Aberration
by Rin O' Gen
Summary: The second she realized she was in the world of Naruto, Rae swore she wouldn't interfere. Even so, looking at the shivering 8-year-old before her, she couldn't help but hold him close. It's not like one friend will change anything, right?
1. Prologue

**Full Summary:**

The second Rae realized that no, she wasn't dreaming, and yes, she was really in Konoha, in the days of Naruto's childhood, she swore that she would not interfere. Even so, looking down at the eight-year-old Naruto before her, she couldn't help but hold him close to her for the night. After all, neither of them had a home at the moment, and this was likely the last time she would ever see him, right? A more realistic OC-insert with no special abilities, no desire to interfere, and no choice at all in the matter.

Yo. First story here. Sooo... Nah, that's really it.

I will say this disclaimer once, and I will expect you to realize this throughout the entire story: I do not own Naruto. This is simply some self-indulgent fun.

* * *

It was times like these that Kuroda Rae hated herself. Times like these, as in sitting up in a dark, unknown alley with her hands pressed to her head to ward off a splitting headache. Dark eyes squeezed shut in pain. Pretty much expected, seeing how she probably had a nice dent in the back of her head from crashing into the wall in front of her and getting knocked out. Fortunately there was no blood, even as she continuously checked, raking her fingers through her short, dark hair. Unfortunately, she had no idea where she was.

Rae groaned and stood, hand on a nearby dumpster for support. What would her dad say about this? She knew it by heart: _"Buy you books, send you to school, and what do you do?"_

"Fall through a hole in the wall. A _blue_ hole in the wall." Rae muttered out loud, glaring up at a blue sky above her. The same shade of blue that hole had been.

In retrospect, it really hadn't been her fault. Really. Curiosity was a natural human reaction to a hole in the wall of a nearby alley she had been walking by on her way home from work, dressed in nothing more than a light shirt, dark jacket and dark cargo pants. So it was only natural that Rae would march up to the alley without a second thought and stare thoughtfully at the odd shade of blue it had been, especially considering that the McDonald's it seemed to lead into had nothing to do with such a color. Red and yellow were more likely. This had been her original plan, if not for one consequential factor.

A tiny, brown lab-like mutt that she had tripped over. A natural lover of small animals, Rae had immediately twisted herself from falling and began spouting apologies at the animal, not noticing the wall she was bracing herself against. Or lack thereof. And she continued _falling_.

In all of her eighteen years, falling through a blue hole in a wall in the middle of Tokyo and crashing into another (much more solid) wall and getting herself knocked out was very easily the most embarrassing thing that had ever happened to her.

Squinting as she reached the road, Rae stared somewhat blankly at the utter lack of pavement and concrete beneath her feet and dimly concluded that something was not right with this picture. She lived in a modern city, one that most certainly did not have dirt roads and colorful, old-fashioned buildings and people falling from the sky—

Rae very nearly shrieked out loud and dove back in the alley as a dark figure fell very gracefully on the ground in front of her. Dashing behind the dumpster, she squeezed herself into as tight a curl as possible before a hand darted over her shoulder and pressed something cold to her neck.

"Don't move."

Rae froze at the hiss, not unaware of the sharp prick her small actions had caused as a small trickle of blood ran down her neck and into her shirt.

_Shit._

"Sudo Nagao." Rae felt her attacker stiffen behind her. _Must be his name_, she idly thought as the same dark figure from before suddenly filled her vision. Another arm clamped across her shoulders and grabbed her dark jacket, drawing her up, sharp object still pressed against her neck.

The man growled a curse under his breath and pressed a little harder, drawing more blood from Rae's neck. "I think you know the drill."

… _I'm being held hostage._

The thought was almost comforting in a way. So long as the man before her did nothing absolutely stupid as to jeopardize her health she was relatively safe... Until he got away and took her to some cabin in the woods and—

Rae suddenly found it difficult to breath properly, cold metal nonwithstanding. In an effort to distract herself from the tension she felt rising, she instead took in the features of the figure standing before her.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Rae nearly rolled her eyes. _What is this, a costume party? Wearing some sort of white dog mask and Grim Reaper cloak will get you nowhere in life my friend._ In fact, it looked remarkably like... ANBU? From the anime Naruto?

Great. A cosplayer was her last lifeline. Rae never felt closer to hysterics, watching the ANBU-wannabe slowly back away and bring his painted face to meet the attacker, eyes to eye-holes—

And the man dropped like a sack of potatoes, collapsing behind Rae. She gasped as the cold metal that had previously pressed against her throat still dug in as the man dropped the metal object, leaving a jagged trail of pain across her neck and down her collar. Rae swore and clapped a hand to the wound, feeling it spill blood with every heart beat.

Fan-freaking-tastic. She was going to die, and her only witnesses were the unconscious attacker-unwittingly-turned-murderer and the cosplayer that held her up, pressing a gloved hand the wound and batting her own hand away.

Rae didn't even have it in her to do much more than watch with a morbid fascination as the man's hand took on an ethereal green glow, tickling against her skin and dulling the pain that slowly faded to nothing. She stared with wide eyes at the dog mask as it nodded to her, picked up the comatose body behind her and slung him over his shoulder—though the attacker was easily a foot taller—and sprang from wall to wall of the alley, reaching the roofs above and racing away.

"Well... shit." Rae let out a breathless laugh before slumping to the ground for the second time that day.

* * *

Light. Bright light. Rae felt it pierce through her eyelids as she slowly awakened to the world of the living.

… _Ow._ Rae winced as she sat up against the dumpster, uncomprehending of her situation until her hand trailed to her neck, which was completely pain free... Why was that important?

Oh, because some maniac with a knife or whatnot had cut her after dropping from eye contact with a cosplayer... who apparently healed her. Rae rolled her eyes to the heavens. What a weird dream then. Checking down herself, she idly brushed herself off and stood, a small shine catching her eye as she looked down.

Hm. A kunai was laying at her feet. Rae bent down and picked it up curiously, noting how it seemed to be actually made of metal. Was it legal to make them so sharp? And it even had a red liquid on it, still drying apparently. Rae touched the liquid with fascination, noting the texture... Then dropped the kunai as the word _blood_ ran through her mind and she touched her shirt at her neckline.

More blood. Drying blood, making her shirt rather uncomfortable to wear and making her squirm. Ew. Rae decided she'd had enough of this, walking as calmly as possible out of the alley, noting again the dirt roads and the colorful old-fashioned buildings, then taking in something else.

People. People that sported odd swirls on their odd clothing and gave odd glances to Rae herself. She looked past the people for a moment and felt something short circuit her mind.

Four faces, carved out with obvious reverence towards the subjects, looking regally over the people with stern gazes. Four people, four hokages, four characters from an anime that didn't exist; all carved on a mountain that _shouldn't_ exist—

"Miss? Are you alright?" Rae stared blankly at the man that had spoken, one that had a green vest that seemed more like armor and a bandanna with a metal plate on it. She took in the swirled leaf engraved with a solemn gaze, merely nodded in acknowledgement towards the man, and turned and marched right back into the alley.

Rae then curled into a tight little ball behind the dumpster and wondered when she would wake up in a padded cell, because Konoha was easily the last place she wanted to be. With any luck, this was all just some crazy-ass dream.

Not that she felt especially lucky these days.

* * *

I appreciate comments, suggestions, and/or a simple fav or alert. Just anything that says you're interested in more (even if this is only the prologue and probably doesn't say much about future content, it's still nice to give it a chance, neh?) :D

PS: Oh yeah, and in case you don't know what 'aberration' means, according to the online dictionary:

**Ab·er·ra·tion**** [ab-uh-rey-shuhn] **

** –noun **

**1. The act of departing from the right, normal, or usual course.**

**2. The act of deviating from the ordinary, usual, or normal type.**

So in a way, it's a direct answer to the question in the summary 'It's not like one friend will change anything, right?' I'm actually quite proud of thinking it up, yo. :D**  
**


	2. Home Base

Ha, this story is way too much fun to write... Thanks for reading it!

* * *

Rae shivered against the dumps-ah, Home Base. She almost smirked. Home Base indeed. The site of her mysterious appearance, of her being held hostage, and now the only place she trusted to not cave in over her head or collapse under her.

To Rae, to walk out of the alley would be admitting that she had done the impossible and gone into a fictional dimension. Because Konoha was _not real_. To say otherwise was a one-way ticket to the nearest happy home. Somewhere all good people wished to avoid.

So Rae was going to sit in her little Home Base until she could look outside the alley and see modern people and modern buildings and _no ninjas_. If she ever got back to the real world, she would forever side with pirates—she'd never say stuff like a ninja had more class, or that jutsus were way more badass than any move Jack Sparrow could pull. Sea turtles all the way! She'd get a freaking tattoo of Davy Jones on her arm if she could just get home—

Rae stopped her thoughts short as her stomach suddenly rumbled, cursing herself blue in the face. Right, her plan wouldn't work because people didn't live in alleys, Home Base or not. So what if she was wearing cargo pants and a jacket and a blood-stained T-shirt in the middle of a (not real) ninja village? So what if it was the middle of the night by now—ah wait, that was important.

Morning it would be, Rae decided, taking in the meager light from the lamp across the street from her alley. Deciding that she didn't quite feel tired, she instead pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself and picked up the kunai she had dropped earlier.

Looking it over, she thought it was almost special. In the way that it had her blood all over it and had nearly killed her that day. Right. Rae hesitated before scrubbing the sharp edge with her shirt, carefully removing the now-dried blood. It was a painstaking task (the shirt was nearly cut on the kunai, and Rae preferred to have her shirt intact) and by the time she'd finished she was left with a clean kunai and an even dirtier shirt. She admired the small weapon before curling in on herself, trying to ignore how cold it was.

… _What if this was real?_ Rae frowned. She needed sleep, not questions of her sanity. But she stared at the kunai clutched in her hand with a troubled expression.

"What if I can't get back home..." She murmured to herself, turning it over in her hand. There was one thing she was certain of though.

She did not want anything to do with Uzumaki Naruto.

It wasn't out of cruelty, she simply knew that he would get along fine on his own. Getting involved with his life was a one-way ticket to an early death, especially considering his enemies. Rae had no desire to get into any conflicts, or to do anything for a place that was _not_ her home, despite her... predicament. If she was lucky, she'd never meet Naruto or his emo rival. Or his perverted sensei. Or the Hokage. He was most definitely on Rae's list of 'people to avoid.'

Maybe if she didn't get involved, things would turn out okay.

* * *

Waking up at dawn, Rae took one look at the four faces still carved into the mountain and entertained the brief idea that this was all real. Only to snort in disbelief. Like she would really end up in Konoha. She'd read stories about that happening. If she really had been in Konoha, all the stories said she would go straight to the Hokage tower and tell him everything. Then she'd be trained in ninja arts, fall in love with some hot ninja, and... save the world? Hm, it usually turned out okay for the girl, but...

Did she really want that? Obvious disillusionment aside, Rae didn't want to be a ninja. She especially didn't want to get mixed up in Naruto's life, when interference was something that could easily get her killed. So what if Sasuke had a crappy fate? So what if Konoha was invaded? It wasn't Rae's problem, not at all. If she went to the Hokage and told him everything, she'd either be viewed as a spy or held to prevent every bad thing from happening. She knew, judging by the fact that there were only four heads on the mountain, that the Sandaime was likely still alive. Which begged the question: When in the Narutoverse was she? Assuming it was all real, of course.

Sighing, Rae zipped her jacket to hide her bloody shirt and walked out of the alley, hands in her pockets. She frowned at an old couple that stared openly at her. What? She didn't think she was that weird. With dark hair, dark eyes and average height, she usually blended into any—oh. Rae glanced down at her attire, comparing it to the ninja gear and civilian clothing. She stuck out like a sore thumb. Damn imagination, generating people that she didn't fit in with.

Rae then passed a food stand, the smell setting off her stomach in a loud protest that the woman behind the counter obviously heard. Rae flushed crimson and ducked her head, quickly walking away as the woman shot her a look. The process was repeated about two more times before she scowled and marched to the nearest vendor, probably terrifying the poor man in the process.

"Excuse me sir?" The man eyed her appearance, rather unkempt from sleeping in and alley, and only nodded gruffly. She attempted to remove her customary scowl and schooled her features into a weak smile. "Ah, I was wondering if-"

"This ain't no charity girl." He cut her off. "Unless you have money, no food." Rae flushed.

"Well, I-" She snapped her mouth shut at the withering glare and glared back at him, walking away and rubbing the back of her ear in irritation. Finally telling her pride to screw itself, she walked a few blocks before a food smell set off her stomach again and she followed her nose to a different stand. Smiling at the man behind the counter, she cut him off before he could speak, eyes boring into his.

"I have no money, and I want to work for food." On cue, her stomach gurgled loudly, and she blushed and bowed her head before adding meekly "Please?" When the man said nothing Rae's shame came crashing down and she drooped slightly, but didn't let up. "I'm a hard worker, honest. I can do anything you need around here; hell, I can learn to play guitar and be entertainment-" She was cut off by the man placing a steamy bowl of soup-like noodles in front of her. Rae stared, mouth agape, a bit of drool at the corner of her mouth.

Huh. You wouldn't think it had only been twenty-four hours since she last ate.

Rae glanced up at the man, and his only response was to hand her a pair of chopsticks. Grinning, she struggled to snap them apart and with a quick 'thanks' dug into the meal. Slurping the last of the salty noodles, she began to thank the man at a rate that nearly left her breathless.

"Thank you _so much_ you have no idea how hungry I was and if I could ever repay you-" The man chuckled and held up a hand.

"Do you like ramen then?" Rae blinked in confusion, then glanced down at the empty bowl before her.

_... Oh._ She nodded. "Very delicious sir. I've never tasted its equal." Which was true. All the ramen in the world couldn't compare to that meal. Even if her hunger may have been a biased factor. He chuckled.

"Thank you. What's your name girl?" She smiled politely at him.

"Rae." She bowed her head in a rare sign of respect—after all, he'd just fed her in her time of need. "Kuroda Rae." He bowed his own head in return.

"Rae, huh? Suits you. I'm Teuchi." Rae froze, then proceeded to read the sign above the menu as Teuchi continued. "Welcome to Ichiraku's, if you're in need, I can give you a job as a kitchen help." Rae nodded dumbly, mind racing. Shit! Didn't she just tell herself that morning not to get involved? Ah well, it's not like serving at Naruto's favorite restaurant would do anything. Besides, she just needed to work here for at least a week then find a different job. It couldn't hurt for now.

So she plastered a smile on her face and tried not to twitch in agitation. At least she liked ramen.

* * *

When the sun finally set over the village Rae collected the last of the ramen bowls, bringing them in the back of the kitchen and rolling up her sleeves to wash them.

"You did good today." Teuchi smiled at her as he put away his ingredients. "Thank you for the help." Rae nodded back.

"Thank you for the job, Teuchi-san." Rae might have struggled with the suffix if she hadn't been living in Tokyo for the past year. She had never been happier with learning Japanese, seeing how it was what everyone spoke around here. "I really..." She hesitated. What could she say? That she had needed it because she was from a different dimension and was lost? Teuchi looked at her oddly.

"How did you get so hungry?" He asked gently. Rae nearly jumped a foot in the air. What?

"W-What?" She nearly slapped herself for the stutter.

"You obviously didn't have a job before, and I'm assuming you had a way to get food before. Why not now?" Rae flinched. She did _not_ want to explain this.

"I-" Teuchi held up a hand.

"Easy there, I'm just concerned. I'm sorry, it really isn't my business. But..." Teuchi then went in the back, then came back with a small envelope in hand. "Here. Payment for the month." Rae eyes widened as she took in the envelope's contents.

"Teuchi-san, I..." Teuchi chuckled.

"I trust you'll come back bright and early tomorrow morning, right?" Rae nodded firmly as she walked off, stuffing the envelope in her pocket.

"Of course! I'll work it off, I promise!" One month. One month of working here, and then she could find something else. In the meantime, she needed dinner. And shelter. Dinner was a priority.

Rae wandered down a few streets, keeping a careful eye on how far off from the ramen stand she was, until she found a closing market that sold fruit. Buying a few apples and a loaf of bread (she needed to conserve her money for the month, after all) she continued down the street.

Then she stop and stared openly at a small alley, dashing in and noting the dumpster and disturbance of ground. Rae twitched again, feeling hysteria creep up on her. Home Base.

Looking around, Rae made herself comfortable in the spot she'd slept the night before, curling in on herself and pulling her sleeves over her hands. She'd ask Teuchi in the morning where she could find a cheap apartment, if she could afford one. Eating two of the three apples and half of the bread, she tucked the rest in her jacket pocket. Pulling out the kunai from her pants pocket, she scratched the words 'Home Base' into the dumpster side with a twisted smile on her face, slipping the kunai in her pocket again.

Maybe she was going insane. Either way, it was with a shiver that Rae huddled into herself like the night before, attempting to sleep.

_It could still be worse._

"There he is!"

"Don't let him get away!"

Eying the blonde, huddled figure that suddenly dashed into the alley and crouched behind the dumpster in front of her, Rae decided she had most definitely just jinxed herself. She listened to the two men that tore past them, shouting threats after the boy in front of her.

Rae choked back a hysterical laugh after they were gone, making the boy jump a foot in the air and turn to her, eyes wide.

"Yipe!" He froze as they made eye contact, he taking in her huddled position and she taking in his disarrayed countenance. He looked to only be seven or eight of age, dressed in a tatty shirt and a pair of shorts, with shoes that appeared too big for him. After a moment of silence Naruto, as Rae knew him to be, relaxed somewhat, though she knew he would be gone at the first signs of hostility.

"Who are you?" He finally asked, voice quiet but eyes suspicious. Rae made sure to not move, made sure she was careful not to scowl at the poor boy as she only gave him a blank stare.

"Kuroda Rae. You?" He chose not to answer, instead keeping his mouth firmly clamped shut and proceeding to watch her carefully. Rae looked over the whisker marks on his cheeks and smiled slightly. He looked rather adorable...

"What are you doing here?" Rae blinked at the straight forward question then scowled lightly.

"About to sleep, thank you. You woke me up." He flinched slightly.

"Sorry, but... Why would you sleep here? Don't you want to go home?" He asked. Rae raised an eyebrow. Bold little guy, eh...?

"_Obviously,_ I would _love_ to go home." Rae offered lightly, dark sarcasm dripping from her voice. "If I had one anywhere near here." Naruto slumped slightly, eyes softening.

"Oh." The two stared at each other in silence, Rae uncurling very slowly under his watchful gaze. Naruto finally looked away, kicking the dirt. "I don't have a home either."

Rae paused. Didn't he have an apartment? Or at least the orphanage? "No where?"

"None." Naruto looked at her. "I used to live in the orphanage, but..." He frowned and looked away, rubbing his bare arms. "They didn't want me there anymore." Rae watched him shiver in the cold for a moment.

"Ah." She didn't question him, easily guessing the reasons behind such. Except he didn't know it.

"Ano..." Rae looked at him blankly. He looked somewhat sheepish. "I... I'm sorry I barged in. I just-I mean." He sniffled slightly and crouched down, fiddling with the dirt. Rae felt her heart break in two at the sight. He looked just like a lost puppy in that moment.

Rae had a soft spot for small animals.

"Hey," She finally said, reaching out an arm. "Come here." Naruto flinched and looked at her, standing and backing away a little. Rae smiled disarmingly. "It's okay. It's just cold, right? You look like you could use some warmth." Seeing how he didn't run, but also didn't come closer, she unzipped her jacket and shrugged it off, holding it out. "Here. You look colder than me." He stared wide-eyed at her bloody shirt.

"What happened to you?" Rae shrugged, frowning slightly at the thought that she would need to go clothes shopping soon.

"Just some bad luck with a guy being chased by a ninja. It's fine though." He hesitated but inched closer, taking her jacket and wrapping it around himself. Rae almost shivered, but held it in. However, Naruto squinted at her, as though trying to see through her.

Then he plopped himself next to her, huddling into her side.

"... Thanks..." He murmured. Rae hesitated then tugged at him, pulling him into her lap and wrapping her arms around him. He went stiff at the contact, but slowly relaxed and leaned on her shoulder.

Curling around the boy, Rae nuzzled her head in his spiky hair and sighed, idly remembering her promise to not interfere with his life. This was probably the last she would ever see of him again, but it was still a risk.

"Nah, thank you. It was a little lonely here." Rae joked awkwardly. She then curled a little tighter as he shivered. "Hey, Naruto..." The boy flinched harshly and she suddenly remembered that he hadn't introduced himself, and that he probably thought that she was going to hurt him. "It's okay. Not everyone hates you."

Naruto didn't say anything, but judging by the shaking of his shoulders and the wetness on her arms it was something he needed to hear.

* * *

Jeez. Kind of a rapid change, but I've got Naruto's general growing up to pass by in a blur compared to his genin days. Then the fic will slow _way_ down. I'll get up the third chapter... maybe soon. Eh, I dunno. Reviews are awesome-tastic~!


	3. Settling In

Wow! More reviews! Like, _four times as many as the first._ That's cool, yo. And a note: I realize that my version of the ninja academy is off. I do. But you know what? I COULDN'T BLOODY UNDERSTAND THE CANON VERSION. It's to my understanding that they go to the academy as children, maybe four or five. Then they take their tests _the first time_ when they're twelve. SO HOW IS IT FREAKING POSSIBLE THAT NARUTO TOOK HIS GENIN EXAM _THREE TIMES_ BEFORE GRADUATING WITH HIS OWN AGE GROUP? HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO START AT THE ACADEMY AS A FREAKING TODDLER.

Therefore, in Aberration they go to class for a year before taking the genin exam. Paradoxes in skill level and absolute retardation of logic nonwithstanding. But it's not like the world of Naruto made much sense anyway.

Enjoy.

* * *

Rae was awakened by the stirring in her arms, and her eyes snapped open at the memory of the night before.

_Shit._

"Ah..." Rae blinked down at the figure in her lap, then looked in the sky. It seemed to be about dawn, and she didn't want to be late for her new job. Teuchi had been generous, after all.

"Naruto. Wake up." The boy in her arms flinched and jerked back, tumbling onto the ground with an 'oof.' He sat up with a start, staring at her before slowly relaxing.

"Oh. Right. Morning." Rae nodded at him before standing with a sigh, dusting off her pants. Naruto stretched, beaming at her. Rae smiled slightly in return. It was nearly impossible not to, after all. He then pulled off the jacket and handed it to her.

"Thanks," Rae said, pulling it on and zipping it again. "Don't want people to freak at the blood, right?" Naruto nodded eagerly. They stared at each other awkwardly before Rae shrugged. "Yeah. Okay. Bye." And she walked out of the alley and down the street, trying to remember the way to Ichiraku's.

Rae hmmed as she followed a street that looked familiar, tugging the bread out of her pocket and nibbling at it. She frowned at the taste, apparently it had gone hard overnight. Well, beggars couldn't be choosers, right? At least she'd lose weight.

Rae frowned at the street sign above her and looked both ways, trying to remember the way before walking up to a nearby stand. "Excuse me? Do you know the way to-"

"Back!" The old man behind the counter suddenly barked. "I want nothing to do with your kind!" Rae blinked incomprehensibly then scowled heavily.

"Me? What the hell did I do?" The man seemed to then notice her.

"I'll be with you in a moment, miss." He then turned to see something behind Rae. "Now get out of here, demon!" He snarled before disappearing in the back.

Rae turned so quickly she almost felt dizzy. "Naruto!" Naruto stared up innocently at her, eyes wide. Rae blinked rapidly. "What the... What..."

"I said _back_!" The man had returned, a broom in hand. He moved with a speed that didn't fit his age and stood beside Rae, holding up the broom in a swing. "Go back to where you came from you devil!" Rae watched Naruto flinch, but he didn't move. She froze slightly before reaching forward and grabbing Naruto by the back of his shirt, yanking him out of the path of the broom and pulling him close when the man turned to her with wild eyes.

"You! What the hell are you doing?" Rae didn't answer, instead taking Naruto's hand and dragging him away as she ran. Naruto followed without hesitation.

Dragging him behind a corner, she released him and scowled at him, half in worry and half in irritation as she reached up to her ear with her eyes squeezed shut. "What are you _doing_?" Naruto flinched slightly, looking down and muttering something under his breath. "What?"

"... You said you were lonely." Rae blinked and remembered that yes, she had said something along those lines the night before. The lack of food must be getting to her. Naruto looked up and smiled widely. "So am I though! So now we can't be lonely if we take care of each other!" Rae openly gaped at his logic as he grinned up at her, rubbing the back of his head. "And you took real good care of me! You even saved me from that guy with the broom! So the least I can do is make sure you have someone to hang around with. We could be... you know..." He slowly dropped his grin and looked down, kicking the dirt much like he had last night before looking up with wide eyes. "... Friends?"

Rae stared at him, thoughts racing. No, she couldn't be friends with him, because he would be fine without her and she couldn't interfere... and he was staring at her with wide, pleading eyes, waiting for an answer from one of the few people that hadn't tossed him aside or tried to hurt him.

Damn her guilty conscience, and damn him for looking akin to a kicked puppy that had just found a friend.

"... Alright. We'll be friends." Rae finally said. When the boy threw her a smile as bright as the sun, she didn't have it in her to really regret it.

After all, it wasn't like one more friend in the world would really change anything.

Rae froze when he threw his arms around her leg, him barely coming up to her waist when they both stood.

"Thank you," He said sincerely, and she only ruffled his hair in reply. Soft and spiky, just like anyone would imagine. She squatted down to his level and looked him in the eye, tugging the last apple from her pocket.

"Fine then. But I have to go to work now." Rae hesitated. "I... If you, ya know, need something, you can find me at work. I work over at Ichiraku's Ramen stand. You know where that is?" She tried not to stare incredulously when he shook his head. Naruto, the boy named after ramen, not having heard of his favorite stand? Blasphemy. "I'll show you, but then I have to work. I need food too, you know." Rae stood straight and nodded to herself, shoving a hand in her pocket and pulling out an apple. She glanced down at Naruto, then shoved the apple in his hand and walking off without a word.

Naruto quickly fell into step behind Rae, eating the apple with a delighted expression on his face, despite his new friend's standoffish countenance and odd accent. Someone didn't hate him. Someone actually cared. Sure, he knew that not everyone hated him. The old guy with the funny hat that used to visit him at the orphanage was proof of that. Naruto hadn't seem him since he was kicked out a month ago, however. Which was a shame, because this was usually the time of the month that he would visit. Oh well.

He munched thoughtfully on the little bits of apple left on the core as Rae walked up to a man with a broad face and a kind smile, nodding when he gave her instructions to work in the back before looking at Naruto with a curious look on his face. Rae paused then ruffled Naruto's hair one last time, stating that she got off work when it got dark, and left without another word.

Naruto gave the man behind the counter a hesitant smile as they regarded each other, unsure of the other. Finally the man smiled at him and asked if he had ever tried ramen before, immediately going to the back when the boy shook his head.

Unknown to the two, Rae had a small, barely perceptible smile on her face as she watched Naruto's face light up when he first took a bite of the ramen Teuchi had thought to give him.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad.

* * *

"Rae-chan, are you sure?"

"Naruto, for the last time; you need a place to stay too, and if they can't accept you while I'm looking, then they won't let you walk through the door. Understand?"

Naruto only looked up at Rae with large eyes before turning away. "I understand." He said softly. Rae nodded firmly and grabbed his hand again.

"Good. Now come on, the fifth time is usually the charm."

"Really?"

"Probably not." They had been searching for an apartment for almost an hour and a half now, looking for somewhere that Rae decided looked cheap enough to survive with only her ramen stand envelope (which was just over enough for a nice rabbit hutch) and didn't take one look at Naruto before kicking them out. Luckily Teuchi had given Rae a long list of cheap apartments (who knew there were so many in Konoha?) and they had only crossed out four of the apartments. Three of them due to their Naruto-intolerance and another due to high prices (which Rae had verbally chewed the owner out for after the discovery of a rodent infestation).

Scowling down at the piece of paper in her hand and rubbing her ear, Rae almost didn't notice it when Naruto slipped his hand out of her own and began tugging her pants.

"Ano, Rae-chan..." Rae blinked and looked down.

"Hm?" Naruto fidgeted uneasily.

"Why... Why are you so nice to me?" He asked, looking up pleadingly. "You keep defending me, you want me to stay with you, you feed me, but everyone else..." He hesitated. "People have started saying bad things about you too, just because you're with _me_." Rae blinked at that. It was true that she had seen people around her whispering a lot that night, but she had simply assumed it was because of her clothes or even her accent (despite her best efforts, her Japanese was still not up to perfect par), but it made sense that they would assume that she was some sort of evil to be involved with the Kyuubi brat. Looking down at the boy before her, knowing his personality in the future, it was easy to guess how he felt about that.

Rae slowly knelt until she was at his level, clearing her throat so she was looking him in the eyes. She wasn't really a touchy-feely person, and she didn't smile all that often either, but at least she could take a shot at what kind of words Naruto needed to hear now, given a page out of his own future speeches.

"Naruto," She said slowly, making sure he was listening. "Remember what you asked me to do for you this morning?" Naruto blinked up at her in confusion.

"I asked... to be friends?" He asked hesitantly. Rae nodded.

"That's right. And do you know how friends act?" Naruto ducked his head sheepishly.

"Not really..." Rae hummed, idly brushing a spike of blonde hair out of Naruto's eyes and tilted his chin to meet her gaze again.

"Well, a friend is someone you can count on in any situation." She said, never breaking eye contact with Naruto. "Someone that you can trust with anything and everything, and someone you can trust to watch your back. A friend is someone that will never betray you, and will never let you down." Rae nodded at Naruto's wide-eyed gaze. "That's actually mostly a best friend, but I think you can qualify for that." Her gaze softened as she stood.

"You asked why I'm helping you, right?" Naruto nodded, still looking at her in bewilderment. "I'm helping you because you are the most honest, most kind-hearted kid I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. Someone like you was willing to be friends with me even after only meeting me the night before, just because I said I was lonely." Rae allowed a rare, genuine grin to cross her face. "That makes you pretty special, neh? Like my own little hero." Naruto gaped openly at her before grinning in reply.

"I am a hero, right? I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the greatest hero of all!" He boasted, striking a pose with his fists in the air. "And you're definitely my best friend, Rae-chan! Believe it!" Naruto whooped as Rae's grin dwindled into a smile and she ruffled his hair, walking along again.

"Come on hero, we still need somewhere to stay for the night." She said, motioning for him to follow. Naruto nodded eagerly before racing after her, requiring more effort to catch up with her longer legs.

"Fifth time's the charm, right Rae-chan?"

"Probably not."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

* * *

Rae hefted the blonde boy on her back as she inserted her newly-acquired key into the lock of the door. Her door.

"Maa... Rae-chan..." Naruto slurred from his position. Rae shrugged him a little higher as she walked through the door. "Did you... find somewhere?"

"Yeah, I got a one-room for a great price. Come on, you need to sleep." Looking around, Rae took in the room, which held a bed at one end and a small refrigerator and stove at the other. A small wardrobe and cupboard stood bare, reminding Rae of her other chores, and a table stood in the middle looking as though it would fall apart at any given weight.

In other words, it was tiny and fairly unsanitary, but Rae couldn't have been more pleased.

Even if the lady at the counter had taken one look at the sleeping blonde she was piggy-backing and stuttered like a bad engine, she had graciously allowed them the room at a cheap price—Rae estimated that if her monthly salary stayed how it was and she conserved her savings, she could easily keep herself and Naruto properly fed and clothed. And, based on her own knowledge of Naruto's childhood, he would probably get his own apartment soon, along with his own payment.

Naruto yawned as Rae carefully set him in the bed, taking one look at the pillow and tossing it against the wall. She wrinkled her nose as it gave a large poof of dust at the impact. "Rae-chan? Was the eighth time the charm?" He asked sleepily, giving a smile. Rae shrugged, ruffling his hair as she pulled the covers over him.

"The eleventh time, Naruto." She corrected absently. "Now get to sleep." On cue, his stomach grumbled and he squirmed. Rae sighed. "Sorry, we didn't have time for food. We can get some ramen in the morning, neh?" Naruto smiled as he began to drift back to sleep.

"That's good," He muttered. "Ichiraku's is the best," He yawned. "The best ramen in the world... Believe it..." Rae shook her head as his breathing evened out, signaling him falling into a deep sleep.

_Unbelievable._

In only two days of her being in Konoha, Rae had somehow managed to befriend Uzumaki Naruto, somehow taking it upon herself to take care of him. Didn't she tell herself that he would be fine without help? Hadn't she immediately decided that interference was a long road that would probably only end in something akin to a bloody and violent death?

But Naruto had looked up at her with large, puppy dog eyes and Rae had immediately thrown that out the window. And her speech about friends earlier—what was that? Was she really going to try and mold Naruto like that? To try and fix up Konoha's number one unpredictable, knuckle-headed ninja into something that couldn't handle the problems thrown at him later in life?

_Well_, Rae finally reflected, setting herself down on the edge of the bed and curling up at the foot. _If I'm going to interfere, I might as well try and make it better._

_Starting with that god-awful orange jumpsuit._

* * *

"Rae-chan! RAE-CHAN!" Rae looked up sharply from where she was setting a bowl of ramen in front of a customer, nearly spilling it all over the man.

"Naruto?" The man blinked at the name and followed Rae's gaze, watching curiously. Naruto raced up to the bar, out of breath.

"Rae-chan... the Hokage..." Rae wiped her hands on her new pants and walked around the bar, meeting the over-excited Naruto in front.

It had been nearly three weeks since Rae had gotten her new apartment, the two going clothes shopping the next day. Rae had fitted herself in shinobi-colored pants (the closest she could find to her customary cargo pants) and boots. Regular shirts went under her dark jacket, the only article of clothing left from her original attire. Naruto himself dressed in a simple pants and shirt, Rae buying him his own dark jacket with orange stripes down the sleeves and an orange lining.

Soon the two were quickly settling into a routine. Each day Rae would go to work, leaving Naruto to his own devices for the day. She would come home and the two would have dinner (luckily Rae knew a few recipes) and then loaf around the apartment, usually Rae reading a book from a bookstore across the street.

She wondered idly when she was going to give into the urge to look at the Icha Icha series on display, if only out of morbid curiosity (she refused to acknowledge that she might be a pervert).

"What's wrong Naruto?" Rae asked, looking down at the panting blonde in front of her. "What about the Hokage?"

"The Hokage..." Naruto let out a gasping breath, then beamed up at Rae. "I saw Oji-san when I was getting the groceries (and I did get the vegetables like you said) and he came up to me and said I'm gonna be a ninja!"

Rae let out a low whistle. She knew this day was coming, when the Hokage would finally enroll Naruto in the academy. And that meant... "Really?"

"Yeah! He told me to meet him at the Hokage Tower at three!" Rae glanced up at the clock. It was 2:45.

"... Isn't the Hokage Tower near the other side of town?"

"Yeah, why?" Rae glanced again at the clock and shrugged.

"No reason. What do you think he wants?" Naruto shrugged, grinning broadly.

"I dunno, but he told me he'd tell me some good news when I got there! I had to tell you first! After putting away all your yucky vegetables, of course!" Rae's lips twitched in a bemused smirk.

"Thank you, Naruto. That's pretty exciting. You'll be a real hero, eh?" Naruto nodded.

"I'll be the greatest ninja of all time! I'll... I'll be the Hokage!" Rae blinked down at him, but Naruto was looking away and towards the Hokage Mountain. "The Hokage's are the greatest, aren't they? People like that, giving their lives for Konoha... And everyone sees them that way, as heroes!" Naruto turned to Rae with a grin. "If I'm Hokage, then people will see me as a hero, right?"

Rae could easily see this as a key development for Naruto. The moment where he decides the dream that steers all his actions in the series, to be Hokage.

She nodded. "You'll be the greatest hero of all time, Naruto. I can guarantee it." Then Rae smirked. "But you'd better get going, hero. It's almost three." Naruto gazed at the clock and his eyes widened comically.

"AIYA! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" Rae smirked even wider as he was about to bolt, then frowned and caught his arm.

"Hold up, hero." Naruto looked at her with panic.

"But Rae-chan, I'll be late!" He yelped. Rae shook her head.

"There's one thing I gotta ask you, okay?" When Naruto hesitated and nodded seriously, she looked him in the eyes. "Don't tell the Hokage where you've been staying. Don't tell him about me." Naruto stared at her in confusion.

"But... you can trust Oji-san, Rae-chan!" He said, smiling in reassurance. "He doesn't hate me, and he definitely won't hate you! Believe it!" Rae shook her head.

"It's not that, it's..." She trailed off. "Just... He may not trust me, you know? He probably looks after you, and he might think that I'm not a good person." Naruto shook his head.

"But you're a great person, Rae-chan! You're my best friend!" He said incredulously. Rae nodded.

"I know. But he may not believe me, okay? Just... please? For me?" She looked into Naruto's eyes pleadingly, letting out a sigh of relief when he nodded reluctantly. "Thanks." Naruto shot her a funny look but shrugged.

"Alright. But I really gotta go!" With that he raced off, nearly crashing into a cart in his haste.

Rae sighed in relief. She knew that anyone getting close to Naruto would probably be viewed with suspicion, probably be looked into. Rae also knew that the Hokage wouldn't find a single paper on Kuroda Rae, no matter how hard he searched. She had no papers, no background, and no way in hell of explaining any of that away.

It would not be pretty.

So she could only hope that Naruto could keep his head, and that he would be able to keep her a secret. God help the day that Rae was found by the Hokage.

* * *

Sarutobi Hiruzen eyed the clock on the wall of his office with something akin to disbelief, puffing away on his pipe. Really, when he had met Naruto in the market (buying _vegetables_ of all things) and told him he had something to tell him, he'd thought the boy would beat him back to the tower. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the boy was looking better off than all his years in the orphanage.

It would take a fool to not notice the new clothes, the more genuine grin on his face, and the fact that he was not nearly as thin as he used to be. Not to mention how careful he was about choosing the vegetables with a grimace on his face, as though the last thing he wished to be buying was the stuff. A normal reaction for any child, but highly unusual for one that, to the best of the Hokage's knowledge, had no one to tell him what he should and shouldn't eat.

When he'd made his customary rounds to the orphanage for the month, it was with something akin to terror the old woman stuttered out how she'd kicked the boy out almost a month ago, selling what little clothing he had and keeping the usual monthly payment that the Hokage usually sent to the boy.

There was never such a day as when the man had so enjoyed filling out certain paperwork for the woman's station transition.

Still, he'd nearly gone white (his hair was still gray, thank you very much) with worry as he realized the boy had likely been on his own the entire time, and had quickly decided on a new course of action in the boy's life. He'd been on his way to finish his little surprise when he'd run into the boy himself.

Buying vegetables, with those new clothes and that genuine grin even as the stall owner eyed him with distaste.

"Oji-san!" Hiruzen looked up as the boy in question burst through the door, looking as though he'd run the entire way to the tower. The man smiled down at him.

"Naruto..." He allowed his features to become puzzled. "You're late?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well, see... I had to put the groceries away and..." He trailed off, looking unsure. "I got... lost... on the road to life?" He said as almost a question.

* * *

Halfway across Fire Country, an ANBU Captain shivered violently, nearly giving himself away to the target shinobi he was stalking. After rubbing his bare arms and looking around thoughtfully, he shrugged and continued his work.

* * *

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at the sad excuse, but let the matter go.

"Naruto, what happened at the orphanage?" He asked kindly, looking the boy in the eye. Naruto fiddled with the edge of his jacket, looking down.

"They... they told me to go away, and that I shouldn't come back..." He muttered to the ground. "Or they'd break my legs so I couldn't run again."

**Crack!**

Sarutobi and Naruto blinked at the broken pipe sitting on his desk, snapped in half by the force of the Hokage's clenched teeth. He coughed awkwardly.

"... I see." He swept the remains of the pipe into a small bin, reaching into his desk and pulling out another pipe. "I was quite worried about you when I heard that you were kicked out. How have you been?" Here Sarutobi watched in confusion as Naruto's face became carefully blank, as though he was unsure of what to tell the man.

"I..." Naruto hesitated, then looked down. After a moment he looked up with a beaming face. "I met this nice old man at a ramen stand! He gave me free ramen and was really nice to me! Ichiraku's is my new favorite place in the world, and ramen is _amazing_! Believe it!"

For a moment, the Hokage had a passing vision of a fiery red-head with a mischievous glint in her eye and an absolute love for ramen in place of the blonde boy in front of him, but it soon passed as he shook his head. He'd have to reimburse the man for his kindness. "Interesting." He murmured, looking at Naruto casually. "And where were you staying?"

Naruto stiffened.

"Naruto..." The Hokage said gently, not liking the look in his eyes. "Is something wrong? You can tell me anything you know." Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, stuttering slightly.

"I..." He shook his head. "I met... I met a nice lady." He suddenly said in a rush. "She bought me clothes and let me stay at her place and feeds me _everyday_! But she didn't want me to tell people about her, so I said I wouldn't, but she said that friends are someone you can count on, and I can count on you to not tell anyone, because you're my friend, right Oji-san?" Naruto looked up at the man with wide, round eyes, pleading with the man to not ask anything about this mysterious woman.

The Hokage inwardly frowned. It was nice that the boy had found someone that seemed to call him a friend, but serving a starving boy ramen and taking in the village pariah were two completely different things, and that she wished to remain anonymous made it all the more suspicious.

Outwardly the Hokage smiled warmly at the boy he'd come to care for and said that yes, he was his friend and that it was nice to hear he'd found a nice friend. He then went on to say that he'd found a nice apartment for the boy, chuckling as Naruto's jaw grew slack and his eyes went wide.

Inwardly he decided that he was getting far too old for this job.

* * *

Yeesh. That was quick. I swear Rae jinxes herself. Or maybe those little pleas she sends to the fourth wall (that's me) are simply me deciding _no way in hell_. :D It's payback for her stupid speeches she gives Naruto. They just _come up_ and I think about how they _need_ to be in there for future content, but then I realize that you guys will probably think Rae's the kind of person that goes and give life-changing speeches 24/7. So I'll tell you now: SHE'S NOT. There's just a very considerable time difference between scenes, all filled with grumpy-and-non-speech-giving/goes-on-with-somewhat-average-civilian-life Rae. Which is fairly boring.

Yeah... So like I said last chapter, Naruto's childhood will kind of pass by in a blur compared to his genin days (which is the entire manga, sadly :X). The next several chapters, depending on how I lengthen them, will be snap shot scenes of sorts, highlighting important events that happen in Naruto's and Rae's life. It really starts to slow down when Naruto is in his last year at the acadamy, and then it should go at a regular pace by the time he graduates. Then the _real_ fun begins~! *chuckles evilly and rubs hands together*

... I'm seriously having _way too much_ fun with this. SERIOUSLY.

Reviews are appreciated!

Oh, and for those who didn't know: Aberration means 'a difference from the usual', or 'a change in a set course'.

Peace out.

**Edit: Ahhh. Thank you, Anonymous, for explaining that. I've just had a reviewer explain the ninja academy system, and it now makes _so much more sense_. *grins sheepishly* Apparently they _do_ start their little assassin training at a young age, but they have the option of taking the genin exam _early_. :O Naruto simply decided to take his exam twice before his classmates, and then the third one he nearly botched on was the one his classmates took and passed. Oops.**

**So... yeah. My bad. :D But I've already written the one-year-then-exam bit into my story's plotline, so I can't exactly go back and change it without rewriting the next... say... five to seven chapters. :x I _really don't want to do that_, so Aberration's ninja academy will simply be _wrong_. And paradoxal. And _wrong_.**

**But thanks anyway Anonymous! :D  
**


	4. Birthday

I love you guys. Really. TT Reading my story. Telling me you like it. Correcting my stupid errors. YOU MEAN SO MUCH TO MEEE~!

*cough* Anyway, more snapshot scenes across a span of... say... around five months. Only important scenes, though. And _no_, Rae is not some super fighter. Drunk civilians are simply much easier to fight against than anything, especially if you know what you're doing. Keep this in mind.

Enjoy.

Oh, and happy birthday Kakashi. *love*

* * *

"Absolutely not."

"Come on, Rae-chan! What's wrong with it?"

"No."

"That's not a reason!" Rae took another, shuddering look at the horrid orange jumpsuit that the boy had immediately run to the second they'd entered the store, and if possible her face went more deadpanned than ever.

Upon coming back from the tower, Naruto had immediately run up to her as she closed up shop with Teuchi and told her all about his visit, saying how the man had enrolled him at the academy and how he now had his own apartment and that the Hokage was paying him and he could start wearing ninja clothes and—what was with that glint in Rae's eye? Rae had then taken him by the shoulders and said that she'd like to help him pick out his new attire, and Naruto was so excited that he practically dragged her all the way to the store that the Hokage had recommended.

"Come on, Rae-chan! It's _orange_!" Rae shivered.

"Exactly. Naruto," She sighed and rubbed the back of her ear in irritation. "Do you know why ninjas wear dark colors?" Naruto made a face.

"Because they're boring?" Rae sighed again.

"No, because they don't want to be seen." She said patiently. "I know you like to be seen Naruto, but what will you do if you're trying to stay hidden from someone that could easily kill you the second they saw you?" Naruto's eyes widened at the logic before he looked thoughtfully at the orange suit again.

"... I'd try to blend in," He finally said. Rae nodded in approval.

"Exactly," She said again. "You are _not_ going to go and make yourself a target for others, do you hear me?" She said firmly, shaking the boy's shoulder a bit. "There's nothing wrong with a little orange, but wearing something like that is like walking around with a 'kill me' sign on your back. Come on," Rae said, dragging Naruto away from a horrible future of orange jumpsuits. "Let's find something a little better." Naruto pouted as he allowed himself to look at the darker varieties of shinobi wear, watching Rae shift through several stacks of shirts and pants.

"You're just saying that 'cuz you like dark colors." He grumbled. Rae blinked down at her own dark attire and simply shrugged, bundling up the pile she'd made.

"Probably. Now try this." She shoved the bundle into Naruto's arms and shoved him towards the dressing rooms. "And don't you dare think about sneaking away!"

"Rae-chaaan!" Naruto whined, but closed the door to the dressing room with a huff. Rae waited patiently until he emerged, then looked him up and down with a raised eyebrow.

"Nice."

Rae had brought him some dark, typical shinobi pants, though with an orange strip running down both legs similar to the dark jacket Rae had bought him a while ago. Naruto wore a simple orange shirt under his jacket, customary whirlpool sign in the middle. Naruto shifted and tugged at his collar for a second, then grinned.

"It's actually not that bad!" He chirped, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. "You were right, Rae-chan! Too much orange is _bad_, but this is just right!"

Rae felt as though she had just done something amazing.

* * *

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey." Naruto only twitched in his sleep and rolled over, mumbling to himself. Rae sighed and placed said food on a plate in the middle of the table, then walked over to shake him. "Naruto, wake up."

"Don' wanna..." Rae sighed again.

"Do you really want to be late to your first day at the academy, hero?" She finally asked. Naruto shot up, eyes wide and fully awake.

"Am I late?" He yelped, falling out of his bed and tangling himself in the sheets. Rae let him struggle for a minute, a smirk on her face, before he finally untangled himself and stared at Rae incredulously. "Rae-chan? How'd you get in here?"

"You gave me a key."

"Oh." Rae had let herself into Naruto's new apartment that morning, realizing that Naruto might just sleep in like he did every morning that he used to stay at Rae's own apartment. It was only a few days ago that they had moved Naruto into his apartment, and Rae decided to ask Teuchi for a day off so she could make sure that Naruto had a good first day at the academy.

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned. "Rae-chan, am I really going to be late?" Rae smirked.

"Nope. You actually have an hour to get ready and be there on time." Naruto whimpered, then blinked.

"Don't you have work?" He asked. Rae shrugged.

"I got a day off. Not something I can do very often, mind you, but I figured today was a good reason." She said, motioning to the table as she cleaned up the pan from cooking and put it away. Naruto beamed, then sat at the table and began eating.

"Mrph muu mkm phmnk?" Naruto asked through a mouth full of eggs. Rae shot him an evil eye, making him swallow reflexively. "Are you going to take me then?" Rae nodded.

"I figured you might like someone to do that for you." She said, shrugging. "It was what my mom did when I first started school." Naruto blinked, then stared hard at Rae.

"You went to the academy too?" He asked incredulously. "So you're a ninja?" Rae blinked and shook her head.

"Different school, hero." She said flatly. "Ninja stuff isn't for me." Naruto watched as Rae shivered from an unknown thought and shrugged.

"So..." He trailed off, rubbing his arms. "Rae-chan..." Rae raised an eyebrow.

"Nervous?" She asked. Naruto shook his head fiercely.

"No way!" He exclaimed. "I'm gonna be Hokage someday, so the academy doesn't scare me at all! Believe it!" He trailed off. "But..." Rae watched as he looked up at her rather pitifully. "What if they don't like me?" He said meekly.

Rae hesitated. It was a rather common question, and she could easily realize what he wanted to hear. She couldn't, however, lie to him.

"If that happens," She finally said. "Then you'll just have to show them how stupid they are." Naruto grinned, laughing.

"Right! Because I'm..." He trailed off as he saw the clock on his stand. "I'm gonna be late if we don't leave soon!" Shoving the rest of the food in his mouth, Naruto dressed in a flurry and all but dragged Rae out the door.

* * *

Rae set the bowl of pork ramen in front of the man, watching in bemusement as he gave a start from where he was staring thoughtfully out towards the street.

"Oh, thank you Rae-san."

"No problem, Umino-san." Iruka smiled warmly, snapping apart his chopsticks and digging into the meal.

When the man had first arrived nearly two weeks ago, Rae had nearly spilled ramen all over him in surprise, then inwardly scolded herself. Hadn't she known that the man was a ramen fan as well? Inwardly she wondered if she should mention to either Iruka or Naruto about the other, seeing how while both were regular customers yet had never been there at the same time.

_... Nah._

"So how was class today?" Rae asked politely. Iruka leaned back with a sigh.

"One month into another year, and I already can't keep up with the paperwork. Luckily Mizuki is pretty handy with that, and..." Iruka trailed off and seemed to debate with himself. "And there's one student in particular." He said, carefully watching Rae's reaction. "Uzumaki Naruto."

Rae nearly dropped the bowl.

"Is something wrong?" She asked sharply. Rae had never considered the fact that Iruka might be a Naruto-hater, but he may have started that way...

"Nothing's _wrong_," Iruka said slowly. "Just... confusing." Rae relaxed slightly.

"How so?" She asked casually. Iruka watched her through narrow eyes.

"What do you think of Uzumaki?" He asked suddenly. Rae blinked, then scowled at him.

"That depends," She said slowly. "On what you would do with my answer." The chunin held up his hands.

"I'm just curious about why you're so interested." He said disarmingly. "You seemed almost worried." Rae debated on what to tell the man, then finally shrugged.

"He's a good friend of mine." She finally said. "And not many people really look out for him." Iruka blinked in astonishment.

"Huh," He let out a long breath. "So you're the one he always talks about." Rae blinked.

"Say what?" She demanded. Iruka chuckled, rubbing his nose.

"He always goes on about how he's going to be Hokage some day." He said in bemusement. "And how he'll be the greatest hero of all time and protect his friends. A student once asked him what friends." Rae scowled, but Iruka ignored this. "And the kid stands and shouts to the entire class about a girl that told him that he would show everyone what a hero he could be. Didn't mention any names, but I'm guessing that was you." He said. Rae sighed, nodding.

"Always the little loudmouth," She muttered, though not unkindly. "Noisy brat. He's been okay in class though?" She demanded. Iruka rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well, there was one incident with the chalkboard..."

* * *

"I heard you called the Hokage a closet pervert in the middle of class." Naruto nearly spat out his seventh bowl of ramen, instead choking on it.

Rae waited patiently for him to swallow, before asking him with a raised eyebrow "Where did you even _learn_ that word?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Some of the students were talking about one of the jounin-instructors being a pervert." He said sheepishly. "So I asked them why, and he said it was because of the book he was reading. I remembered Oji-san has a book like the one they described, but he always keeps it hidden! So that makes him a closet pervert, right?" Naruto asked brightly, proud of his logic.

Rae only closed her eyes.

"That's right, Naruto." She finally managed. Naruto grinned, then looked at Rae carefully.

"You know, Rae-chan..." He said slowly. "Oji-san's book looks a lot like the orange one you keep in your pocket all the time, the one you won't let me read..."

"Naruto, don't you want some more ramen?" Rae stuffed a helping of noodles into Naruto's mouth, face crimson. Her morbid curiosity of late had developed into an unhealthy obsession with the Icha Icha series.

Despite the smut, it was actually a good read. The plot was pretty good, the scenarios were simply hilarious, and the scenes were... vivid...

"Rae-chan, why's your nose bleeding?" Naruto looked worried. "I've seen guys pass out from that! Are you okay?"

Rae only held a tissue to her nose and clung to what little dignity was being shredded by the boy in front of her.

"Come on, hero." She finally said after Naruto finished his ramen. "Let's head over to the bookstore. I want to get something. Want me to lock up, Teuchi-san?" She called in the back.

"It's fine." Teuchi stated, coming from the back. "I'm expecting someone, so I'm running late. Go ahead though." Rae thanked him and she left, Naruto walking behind her.

Walking in the store, she greeted the woman behind the counter.

"Kiyo-san." She said. Kiyo nodded at Rae.

"Rae-san. Have you come for the latest Icha Icha? Or are you not finished with the last one?" Rae blushed heavily and looked away.

"Not quite done with it." She managed. Naruto looked between the two before pointing at Rae accusingly.

"You're a closet pervert too, Rae-chan!" He exclaimed loudly. Rae slapped a hand over his mouth and turned to Kiyo pleasantly.

"I was wondering if my order came in, actually." She said. Kiyo nodded and reached behind the desk.

"Like I said when you ordered it, it wasn't really popular enough to keep in stock." She said, handing a yellow book to Rae. "I'm surprised you've even heard of it, even if the author is pretty popular now." Rae shrugged and paid for the book, as an afterthought buying a notebook as well.

"Morbid curiosity." Was all she said. Kiyo raised an eyebrow.

"Wasn't that what you said when you bought-"

"Great to see you, Kiyo-san!" Rae said with an out-of-character note in her voice, dragging the still-gagged Naruto out. She kept him like that until they reached the park, where she released him and he pouted.

"Rae-chan," He whined. "Why did you drag me so you could just buy some stupid book?" Rae pulled out the book from before and waved it in his face.

"And here I thought you might enjoy 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja'!" She said in feint surprise. "After all, the main character has your name!"

* * *

Rae pressed herself further into the wall, nearly crushing the boy behind her as she swore repeatedly in her head.

_ShitshitshitSHIT!_ In retrospect, she might have seen this coming. When she had first met Naruto all those months ago he'd been running from two men, after all. It was only natural that they'd come back months later, and that Rae and Naruto would meet them while walking back from the park where'd they'd been reading their respective books.

And it was only natural that she would grab Naruto and run.

"Rae-chan, are they gone?" Naruto whispered, clinging tightly to Rae's pants. Rae crouched down in front of Naruto as she scanned her surroundings.

"I..." She trailed off. "I don't think so." She said finally, just as one of the men shouted that he was going to look in the alley they'd hidden themselves in.

Naruto whimpered and huddled even further. Only to be pushed into a corner as Rae got in front of Naruto, whispering harshly to stay back. She stood just as the man came in the alley, immediately drawing attention from him.

"Well, well, well..." The man drawled as he stumbled into the alley. Rae quickly realized he was intoxicated, and scowled a little harder. "If it ain't the little demon's whore."

Rae felt her blood run cold as the man leered at her.

"Tell you what, missy." He said lazily. "Give me the thing, and you can be _my_ girl instea—OOF!" The man was cut off by a very sharp kick from said girl to... a very sensitive area.

"Like _hell_," Rae spat, eyebrow twitching uncontrollably. "If you touch Naruto I'll kill you myself!" She snarled. The man swore as he stood, still grimacing in pain. He recovered and charged, fist swinging out for Rae.

"You bitch!" He roared. Rae tensed.

_Six years lessons better pay off in the near future._

Arm up, deflect fist to side. Step in close (horrible smell of alcohol, definitely drunk) hook to sensitive kidney. When the man exhaled sharply and leaned down to cover his injuries, Rae kneed him in the now easily-accessible throat, twisting and turning the upward thrust into a roundhouse as her ankle hooked his shoulder.

**Crack!**

The man was sent back by Rae's twist into the wall behind him, slamming his head against the wall. The other man came in soon after, and at the sight of his unconscious partner similar yells and blows were traded.

Then Rae quietly picked up the still-shivering Naruto and carried him home, leaving behind two very broken and shamed men.

* * *

"I knew it!" Naruto exclaimed for the third time. "You _are_ a ninja!" He pointed dramatically at Rae, who sighed irritably and rubbed the back of her ear.

"_No_, Naruto." She said for the fifth time. "I am _not_. Learning to defend yourself and being a ninja are _not_ the same thing." For the sixth time since they arrived at Naruto's apartment, Rae checked to make sure the door and the tiny window were both locked tightly, tattered curtain drawn and everything.

_How could I be so __**stupid**__?_

Taking Naruto to the park on October tenth was, in retrospect, like walking off a ship and into shark-infested waters. True, she hadn't quite realized such until she had locked them in the apartment and taken a glance at the calender, but it was still mainly her fault.

If she hadn't been able to take care of the drunkards, what might have happened to Naruto would have been her fault too.

"Ano, Rae-chan..." Rae looked up and looked at Naruto, who was looking dangerously close to tears. "I'm sorry." He mumbled. Rae blinked.

"What?" She said incredulously. "No, _I'm_ sorry, Naruto. I should have realized the date. The park was easily the most idiotic thing I could have done. Not to mention," She added sheepishly. "That I forgot to get you a birthday present."

Naruto stared at Rae as though she'd grown two heads and a tail. Or maybe started wearing a pink dress and smiled as often as he did.

"Rae-chan..." Naruto said softly. "He tried to hurt you to get to _me_. I'm supposed to protect _you_ though! Because I'm going to be a ninja!" Naruto threw himself at Rae, nearly cutting off any circulation in her legs. "And all I did was hide!"

Rae blinked down at Naruto. "Naruto," She said slowly. "You hid because you did the right thing." When Naruto looked up at her incredulously, she fixed him with a hard gaze. "What would I have done if I would have had to get you away from the men _and_ defeat them at the same time?" She cut off any protests. "You're still in the academy. Your taijutsu is your worst subject. I know Iruka, remember? You would have been creamed. And then I would have been trying to fight two men at the same time, with a little kid that I would have had to save at the same time. I would have been creamed." She tilted Naruto's chin up so that he was looking at her with wide, terrified eyes. "You would have gotten us both killed."

Naruto finally burst into tears, clinging to Rae and sobbing his little heart out. Rae's eyes softened and she ruffled his hair gently.

"Ah, Naruto..." She murmured. "There's always going to be someone stronger than you, right? That's why you have friends to save you. You can't be the hero all the time." Sitting on the edge of Naruto's bed, she drew him into her lap and held him tightly. "And it may sound rather stupid, but happy birthday anyway."

Rae finally went home an hour later, promising to take him to pick out a present if she could get the day off tomorrow. Inwardly she knew that Teuchi would do that for her in a heartbeat; she hadn't had a day off since Naruto first started in the academy three months ago.

She didn't notice the bone-white mask with red markings watching her walk back home, nor the way it vanished in a swirl of wind and leaves.

* * *

The second Rae locked the door of her apartment, she put her newly-purchased notebook on the table and sat herself down with a sigh, picking up a pencil she'd borrowed from Naruto's apartment.

And she wrote down everything that she could remember about the manga.

The first page she created as a reference to Naruto, writing down every little fact about him she could remember. Even the orange jumpsuit, though now she'd never have to see that monstrosity ever again. Favorite food, his godfather's name, the fact that he housed the Kyuubi, and eventually a list of significant events in his life.

_October 10: Uzumaki Kushina, former jinchuuriki of Kyuubi, gives birth to Naruto, named after character in Jiraiya's book 'Legend of Gutsy Ninja'. Father Namikaze Minato, AKA Fourth Hokage, is then confronted by Uchiha Madara who releases Kyuubi due to weakened seal at childbirth. Parents die sealing last of chakra in Naruto._

_Unknown date, age 12: Fails ninja academy for third time until tricked by teacher into stealing scroll from Hokage. Learns kage bunshin and about the Kyuubi. Gets placed on Team 7 with jounin Hatake Kakashi and two genin Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke._

_First part: Gullible idiot._

_Second part: … Gullible **strong **idiot._

Rae then moved on to Sasuke, writing down everything she could remember of him and Itachi, from details on the Sharingan to general comments on his personality and behavior.

_Seemed to be emotionally stabilizing until appearance of Itachi and shark man partner looking for Naruto._

_First part: Unstable emo set off at any mention of 'power' or 'Itachi'._

_Second part: Sadistic bastard still set off by 'Itachi'. Freakishly powerful and generally overuses the word 'revenge'._

Rae then moved on to Sakura, though there weren't many things on the girl she could remember. She still did the best she could, noting her chakra control and place in team.

_First part: __FANGIRL._

_Second part: Prodigal medic-nin with super strength._

Rae also wrote a section on Kakashi. Though the Kakashi Gaiden was fairly hazy in her mind, she only wrote that he was a prodigy that became chunin at six and an Uchiha had given him Sharingan in his dying moments.

_Bastard rule-follower as child. Constantly late and laid back as adult. _(Here Rae squinted her eyes at her own words, then scribbled a 'WTF' on the side.) _Fan of Icha Icha. Somehow gets Mangekyo during two year break. Special disposition towards teamwork and how team members should act._

_First part: Lazy with weird mood swings._

_Second part: Lazy with weird__**er**__ mood swings._

Rae wrote on into the night, writing everything she remembered of the main characters, though mostly Team 7 and the sennin, until she finally moved onto the general happenings in Naruto. Rae wrote on their first C-rank mission, though leaving out things she couldn't remember—though mostly specifics of the first attackers.

She wrote about the chunin exams and how Orochimaru attacked and cursed Sasuke. She wrote about the Sandaime dying and how Naruto went with Jiraiya to find Tsunade, learning the Ransengan. She wrote about Sasuke's defection, making vague notes about the Sound nins that the team had to fight until the battle in the Valley of the End.

She then wrote how Naruto left with Jiraiya for two and a half years, coming back to find Akatsuki.

Rae then wrote about Madara's plan to extract the bijuu and create a ten-tailed monster, also creating a whole section on Akatsuki and every member she could recall. She put in every tiny detail she could remember, seeing how any of it wouldn't happen for at least another four years. And she hadn't even touched the manga since she was sixteen. Memory tended to fail after that time. As a failsafe, she wrote it all in English.

She hoped that her constant use of Japanese around here wouldn't make her forget any English. Then she'd be screwed.

Ah well. Rae sat back with a sigh, rubbing her sore wrist and raising an eyebrow at the clock. This was more important, she decided, than a good night's sleep. Just in case she needed to remember something later. She resolved to keep the small notebook with her from now on, seeing how losing it would be absolutely unacceptable.

Rae then hoped that this wouldn't all come back to bite her in the ass.

* * *

"Your report, Jackal?" The Hokage watched the ANBU in front of him with a solemn look on his face, looking every bit the intimidating Professor he was known to be. The shinobi in front of him shifted uneasily, before reporting in a blank monotone.

"At school it was fairly stressful. One of the teachers would shoot Uzumaki glares throughout the entire lesson, but the other managed to balance out the day. The boy sulked all the way to his usual meal at Ichiraku's until the girl..." Here the ANBU faltered, something that the Hokage noted with a raised brow.

"Jackal, I need to know everything about Naruto's day." He said sternly. "Just report."

"... Until the girl brought up the fact that he had called you, forgive me Hokage-sama, a closet pervert in the middle of class."

Sarutobi didn't even twitch, but inwardly decided to have a 'talk' with the boy sooner or later. When the man didn't outwardly react the ANBU continued.

"The two talked for awhile until the girl took Uzumaki to a small bookstore and picked up a book. She then took him to the park where they spent approximately two and a half hours reading." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. Naruto? Reading? According to Iruka, the boy had to be forced to read anything.

"The books?" He asked curiously.

"The girl brought a volume of Icha Icha Paradise..." Sarutobi coughed lightly. "And she gave the book she had purchased to Naruto. 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja'." At this the elderly man raised both eyebrows.

_Could she... no, impossible. But still intriguing._

"Go on." He said, leaning back and closing his eyes.

"And when they left the park they were attacked by two drunk civilians." The Hokage's eyes snapped open and he was at attention all at once.

"Did you interfere?" He demanded, scowling slightly at the man. When the man shook his head he nearly exploded, but stopped short at his next words.

"I didn't need to." Hiruzen blinked as he continued. "The girl displayed admirable skill in an odd taijutsu."

"What style exactly?" Sarutobi asked. The ANBU shook his head.

"I've never seen anything like it," He said in monotone, but Sarutobi was had been a shinobi too long to not hear the slight frustration in his voice. "It was a style without any basic stance or forewarning, instead relying on the target's own attack to pull their body into a leverage; in essence, it was their own strength turned against them. The scuffle lasted only forty-five seconds." Sarutobi leaned back with a sigh. Suspicious, but still not on a good basis for any investigation.

"Can you say she was a shinobi then?" The ANBU paused, then shook his head.

"No. Her movements were only civilian level speed, and the men were not fatally wounded. It was more surprise than anything that downed them, although I believe that is the point of the odd style. She also displayed a very small amount of killing intent, suggesting only minor experience with actual fighting." Sarutobi hmmed to himself.

"What happened after that?"

"The boy was severely distressed, and the girl carried him to his apartment (I believe she was given a spare key to it) and locked themselves inside of it for an hour. She then retired to her own apartment for the night." The Hokage nodded, again leaning back.

"Thank you, Jackal. A report on what you've learned about the girl?" The ANBU nodded.

"Her name is Kuroda Rae. Dark hair and dark eyes. Wears dark shinobi colors, though it seems more out of personal preference than anything. Has an odd scar on neck the shape of a lightning bolt across her jugular. Works full days at Ichiraku's ramen, and lives in a small apartment about ten blocks from it. Uzumaki is in daily contact with her." Sarutobi nodded again. Half of that he'd already heard from Iruka, among other things.

"And if what Iruka says is true, she has a considerable influence over him." He muttered, almost to himself. "If she's trying to manipulate the boy for her own means, it has yet to show though." He continued on. "If anything, Naruto only seems to be more dedicated to Konoha than ever. I can't imagine why she wouldn't want Naruto to mention her to me."

"Actually sir," Jackal hesitated. "When we first learned the girl's identity, Falcon ran a background check on her." Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.

"And?"

"Nothing, Hokage-sama. Falcon couldn't even find an eyewitness account of the girl until five months ago." The Hokage blinked. Falcon was the head of the investigations branch of the Hunter-nins, a division renowned for their information gathering. Five months...

"When Naruto was kicked out of the orphanage." He said suddenly. Jackal inclined his head.

"She was wandering the streets in foreign clothes and looking for food and work until she came to Ichiraku's. She lived in the streets for a few days (around this time the Uzumaki was reported following her around) before purchasing her apartment. Before that is anyone's guess." Jackal shook his head in slight dismay. "And not to mention her odd accent, along with the fact she may as well be a ghost..." Jackal shrugged.

"It's like she's from another world."

* * *

"Rae-chan, why not?"

"Give me one good reason why."

"Because it's _cool_." Rae looked in obvious distaste at the toad sitting in Naruto's hand.

"I'll pass." She said blankly. Naruto pouted.

"Come on, at least pet it!"

"No."

"Just a pat?"

"Naruto, I hate amphibians."

"That's okay, this is a frog!" Rae slapped her forehead.

"Do you want to go shopping today or not?" She finally demanded, rubbing her ear in obvious agitation at the green animal Naruto had discovered while waiting for her to show up. Naruto tilted his hands, spilling the frog onto the grass in front of his apartment before looking at Rae with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

"No, I don't want that for my birthday." He said crossing his arms stubbornly. Rae blinked.

"What do you want then? I know those goggles are pretty cool," She said, indicating the shiny objects proudly atop Naruto's head. He'd discovered the package that morning, with a birthday wish from the Hokage himself. "But I want to get you something too." Naruto nodded seriously.

"I want you to teach me taijutsu." Rae blinked down at the boy very, very slowly before sighing.

"Naruto," She said slowly. "We've been over this. I am not a ninja." Naruto scowled.

"I know that!" He said. "But I want you to teach me to fight how you did! It was _so cool_!" He exclaimed in excitement. "They were like 'Rawr!' but then you just _stood there_ and went right up to them and you kicked that one guy in the-"

"Naruto." Rae squeezed her eyes shut. "Why would you want to learn _that_?" She finally managed. "Ninja don't use that fighting style; aren't you learning taijutsu at the academy?" Naruto pouted.

"But it's _hard_, Rae-chan!" He whined. "They're always telling me I have to move a certain way and I end up getting hit because I do it wrong! But you didn't get hit even once! Please?" He begged, eyes wide and pleading. "For my birthday?"

_Damn whoever invented puppy dog eyes to hell and beyond!_ Rae sighed heavily.

"... Fine." She scowled and stalked away, a fiercely grinning Naruto at her heels. She could easily imagine the large bone in his mouth and wagging tail.

She then resolved to buy a dog in the near future.

They walked until they reached a more secluded area of the park, Rae stopping and holding out a hand for him to stop.

"Before I teach you _anything_," She suddenly said, staring Naruto in the eyes. "I want you to promise me something, right now. Two things, actually." Naruto nodded eagerly.

"Anything, Rae-sensei!" He chirped. Rae twitched.

"Three things then. One: don't call me sensei. I'm not teaching this to you because you're my student, I'm teaching this because you're one of the few people I know in Konoha, and you're practically family to me. I'm teaching you because you're the closest I've ever had to a little brother." She nodded sharply, ignoring Naruto's incredulous look. "Two: If you're going to learn my fighting style, you need to understand that it is developed for self-defense _only_, and is meant to really _hurt_ others. Not to kill, but to hurt. Badly." Her eyes tightened. "Which means if I catch you using this against someone that isn't attacking you first, I will stop teaching you _immediately_." Naruto nodded, looking down.

"I understand." Rae nodded.

"Good. Three," Her eyes softened. "I want you to be careful, hero." She said softly. "You see that stone over there?" She pointed to the blue memorial stone standing innocently about ten yards away. "There's a long list of heroes carved out in that stone. But they all have one thing in common: they all died." She ruffled Naruto's hair, taking in his wide eyes. "Being a ninja is damn dangerous, so you have to promise me one last thing: Don't make me regret teaching you how to get in danger. Don't make me regret not disapproving your dream because you wanted to be a hero. _Don't make me carve your name on that stone._ Do you hear me, Naruto?" She grabbed the boy by his shoulders, looking him in the eye. "Don't you dare get yourself killed. It'll be the promise of a life time." Naruto nodded slowly, then beamed up at Rae.

"I promise, nee-chan!" Rae's eyes widened and she grabbed him in a fierce hug.

"Now you're never getting out of that promise. Stupid little otouto." She murmured, setting him back and crossing her arms. A glint came in her eye. "Now let's see how you punch..."

* * *

Sarutobi watched Rae school Naruto through a punch, teaching him proper balance and a stance almost similar to the academy's own taijutsu stance, only to coax him back into a normal stand after the punch was completed.

When Iruka had reported Naruto to be missing from his classes that morning, Hiruzen had immediately taken a guess and pulled out his glass ball, switching the image to the boy's apartment just in time to see Naruto request to be taught by the girl. In his first observations of the girl, he'd been rather surprised to see how often she'd scowled at something Naruto said or did, even smirking a bit when he was in distress from something (usually self-inflicted) only to scold the boy a moment later.

If she hadn't made Naruto promise not to die as a ninja with such a fierce look in her eyes, Sarutobi might have thought her to be like most other civilians.

It was a foolish hope, one that all civilians that were close to ninjas tried to cling on to. Judging by the sad look in Rae's eyes when he'd promised, she knew that too. Many shinobi died before they reached twenty, the death rate among chunin being the highest (qualified for more dangerous C-ranks and B-ranks, and too cocky with their status to acknowledge their limits). Asking a ninja to not die was like asking the nations for world peace.

It, to be frank, was not going to happen. But on the basis that the girl seemed to care dearly for the boy, it was easier to see the affection when she would scowl, and the underlining worry when she'd scold fiercely. Even now, as Rae whapped Naruto on the back of the head for a fairly stupid question (something about asking Rae if he could pick up the attacker and toss him to the ground) Sarutobi could see a fond grin on the boy's face when she continued to scold.

So that was it then; there was no removing her from his influence. She was still suspicious, but for now would only have to be marked as a 'potential threat' and watched. The same category as Naruto.

_Besides, what harm could come from one friend in the world?_ Sarutobi rubbed his face wearily at the naive thought a moment later.

_Enough trouble to destroy Konoha itself._

**

* * *

**

Yeah, more timeskips between scenes. This chapter is actually fairly important, but it doesn't mean I like it _too_ much. Why did I have Rae know martial arts? ... Because. Why did I have Rae teach Naruto martial arts? ... Because. Why did I have Rae get into Icha Icha? ... A blatant honesty to myself. I would probably at least _look_ at the series out of morbid curiosity. I'd like to think I wouldn't get into them, but you never know. They're a popular series for a reason. ;P

This whole Rae thing won't actually have _that_ much of an effect on Naruto's overall self in the future (he'll still be stupid and pranking and loud) but it does influence some choices he makes. Because really, before he met Iruka and Kakashi he really didn't have anyone to teach him much about life. Except the Hokage, who had his job of maintaining the entire village. You don't get away from that just to raise a little boy how he needs to be raised. Even if it is Naruto. SO YEAH.

Hey, you guys remember how I said I was writing _way_ ahead of what I'm posting? Well, that's a problem. It's good because now I can take a break from writing and still update regularly, but it's a problem because I don't know if half the things I write are any good without response. Is there a reader out there who's willing to read ahead in this story and give me feedback? So far I've gotten all the way to Naruto's genin days, but I don't know if I'm doing a very good job without reviewers.

So yeah. NEED PERSON TO READ AHEAD AND GIVE GOOD FEEDBACK. That is all. Oh, and review please. :D

Peace out.


	5. Fail

Okay, the first thing I have to say is WOW. The last chapter was something that I didn't enjoy writing too much (I don't enjoy writing Naruto's entire childhood, really) but it must have been better than I had feared because the number of reviews per chapter _doubled_. I was all O-O;; MY EXACT FACE.

The second thing is a very big I AM SORRY. Because if you thought the rushing was bad _last_ chapter, I've gone through more than a year in this one. D: But you really have to understand that the only reason I put in such a timeskip is because _nothing worth noting happened in between_. Seriously. But as I promised before, the story slows _way_ down a little before Naruto graduates, and even more so when he gets his team. Don't believe me? Get this: In a bit I'll have the next 40K words of this story happen over the course of only _two months_. That's a lot of words for such a short time in comparison, neh? The past 27K words were for four years, and then the next 40K will be for two months. Important words, too!

So yes, I am not exaggerating when I say that it'll slow down. Just bear with this chapter for me? Please? I promise after this one I won't skip more than a few months at a time! Believe it! *bricked*

OH! And a very important shout out! I'd like to thank the INCREDIBLE AWESOMENESS that is Sousie for going over the next _two hundred pages_ of Aberration! And then proceeding to send it back with comments, editing, and suggestions that are made of pure WIN! And even as I write, Sousie _still_ edits my words and helps me with the story! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW AWESOME THAT IS, BUT YOU HAVE TO ACKNOWLEDGE IT ANYWAY. Seriously. The next _too many to count_ chapters are all thanks to Sousie! THANK YOU AGAIN!

Ew, long author's note... Oh well, a longer chapter in return. Enjoy.

* * *

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey." Unlike the first time Rae had done so, over a year ago, Naruto immediately shot out of bed at the call. Just like last time, he had a losing match with his sheets, rolling all over the floor before pouting up at the girl. Rae only smirked back.

"Breakfast, hero." She said, jabbing a thumb to the table. In an instant all annoyance was forgotten for the food sitting on the table.

Rae watched him eat (and nearly choke) in something akin to bemusement. He'd certainly grown up from the starving eight-year-old he'd once been in the past years, now quickly filling into the roll of 'hyperactive ninja' he was to be known for. He didn't seem to be at quite the same level of obnoxiousness he was known for in the manga at ten years old, but it would probably come later.

Maybe starting today, when he'd fail his first genin test.

"Neh, nee-chan..." Rae hmmed and looked at Naruto, who'd finished his breakfast and was now looking at her with wide eyes. "Do you think I'll pass the exams today?" Rae barely held back a grimace.

No, he couldn't pass, because he needed to graduate in two years time, not now. He needed to be placed on Team 7 with the perverted jounin, the fangirl and the emo. He was not going to pass, and now he was asking Rae with those damn eyes for a lie.

Rae wondered where her resolve to get a dog had gone. She promptly renewed it.

"I think it all depends on whether you're ready to be a ninja or not," Rae said finally. "You're the youngest in your class, right?" Naruto nodded eagerly. "I'm not going to lie, hero. I really want you to be with other kids your age. But I don't have a doubt that you have the potential to surpass every Hokage in history." She said with an air of finality. It was technically the truth, without telling him that he would be definitely able to pass. Naruto beamed at her.

"I'll surpass every Hokage there ever was!" He declared. "Even the Yondaime himself! Believe it!" Rae merely gestured at the clock, watching him begin to hyperventilate with a hint of a smirk on her face.

"I think if I weren't here, you'd be late to everything, hero."

"RAE-CHAN!"

* * *

Naruto slumped over as he watched the other graduates walk out of the academy, shiny new headbands on their foreheads. He'd tried hard, really. All his last minute work on the henge technique had finally paid off when he'd transformed into a perfect copy of the Hokage, but his bunshin fell flat. Literally.

"Oi, Naruto." Naruto looked up from the swing he was sitting on dejectedly, unable to go to the ramen stand with the news that he'd failed his exam to his friend. Iruka smiled kindly at him, a far cry from how he'd been in class. "You okay?" Naruto shook his head.

"I really wanted to pass, Iruka-sensei." He muttered. "I worked really hard on the henge and everything! But every time I try the bunshin..." Iruka watched the boy mope with a sigh before shrugging.

"Come on then. You like ramen?" Naruto looked up so quickly that Iruka might have thought his head would fly off.

"Do I like ramen?" He repeated incredulously. "I love ramen! Ramen is the greatest thing in the world! And Ichiraku's Ramen Stand is my favorite place in the entire _world_!" Iruka chuckled.

"Then how about I treat you to a bowl or two." Naruto grinned and slid off the swing.

"You better be prepared, Iruka-sensei! I can eat a whole lot more than that!"

The two walked over to Ichiraku's, though Iruka noticed how Naruto seemed more reluctant as they walked along. He shrugged; he probably wasn't looking forward to telling Rae about his failure.

"I'm sure your friend will understand." He said gently. "You are two years younger than the other students, after all." Naruto looked up at Iruka incredulously before shaking his head.

"I know she'll understand, I just don't get what she told me this morning." He said, scowling slightly. "She said that I'll be a ninja when I'm ready, but I don't know when I'll be ready for that!" Iruka hummed as he thought about potential answers. Many people had different ideas about what being a ninja meant, so he could only answer

"Then I suppose you'll have to ask."

"Naruto!" Naruto's head whipped up at the call, racing the remaining distance to the ramen stand. Rae stood there with a worried look on her face; Iruka decided she had seen his lack of a headband. "How'd it go?" Naruto flinched, looking down.

"I couldn't do it," He mumbled. Rae sighed.

"That's okay, Naruto. Now you'll have a whole year to master what you learned this year, right?" She said lightly. "Come on, have some ramen." Naruto nodded, sitting on the stool and digging in as Rae placed a bowl in front of him. Naruto looked up at Rae.

"So what did you mean this morning?" He asked. Rae shrugged.

"Depends on what you're talking about." Naruto pouted.

"When do you think I'll be ready to be a ninja?" He demanded. Rae smirked and ruffled his hair.

"When you know what it means to be strong." She said lightly, winking at him. Iruka chuckled as Naruto pouted even harder, but then asked

"Do you know what it means?" Rae only turned away with a sigh.

"That's something you have to figure out on your own, hero." She said. "If I told you, then you probably wouldn't really understand." Naruto scowled.

"But I'll still surpass every Hokage in history!" He declared, pointing at Rae dramatically. Rae ruffled his hair with a rare smile.

"I don't doubt it for a minute."

* * *

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto cringed when Iruka called his name in the middle of class, immediately putting on what Rae called his 'puppy eyes'.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei?" In response Iruka held up a purple paint-coated arm, pointing at him accusingly.

"What the hell did you do to the teacher's lounge!" He yelled, a vein threatening to burst from his forehead. Naruto shrugged.

"It... wasn't me?" He almost asked. Iruka twitched.

"I wouldn't even consider that, but you left _this._" Iruka held up a small toolbox, orange in color and with the words 'Uzumaki Naruto' written in pen on the top. Naruto's eyes widened.

"I forgot my kit!" He yelped, running over and grabbing it from Iruka. He grinned up at the flabbergasted man. "Thanks Iruka-sensei! I really owe you one!" Iruka growled.

"_Naruto_..."

* * *

Naruto scowled as he scrubbed the paint off the walls of the teacher's lounge under the watchful eye of the still-colorful Iruka.

"Iruka-sensei, do I really have to-"

"Yes."

"But could I-"

"No."

"How about-"

"_Hell_ no." Naruto scowled and rubbed the back of his ear.

"You didn't even hear what I was going to say!" He muttered.

"I can tell it was a stupid idea already." Iruka simply said. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Naruto, why the hell have you been doing so many pranks lately?" He demanded. "What would Rae-san say?" Naruto's answer was a foxy-gin and a shameless

"The kit was her birthday present to me. She said the chalkboard incident 'wasn't creative enough'."

Iruka twitched.

* * *

"Ten paint-filled balloons tied to the walls with rubber bands, all flung towards the door when someone would open it." Iruka shook his head slowly while Rae only smirked. "If only he would put such dedication into his school! He created the most inventive trap I've ever seen! And from a room with only one door and no windows!" Rae placed the bowl of ramen in front of Iruka, still smirking.

"You'd think that ninja would be impossible to prank." She said lightly. "Aren't you all trained to be on your guard from traps?" Iruka blushed.

"I wasn't expecting a trap in the teacher's lounge!" Rae raised an eyebrow.

"And this is what, the tenth time he's gotten you this year?" She asked, mirth coating every word. Iruka scowled as he ate his ramen.

"Twelfth." He muttered.

"I'm just saying, the boy's got a gift. Who am I to discourage that kind of thing?" She replied, shrugging. "Besides, imagine if he'd taken those pranks and filled them with death traps instead. Say, taken the itching powder and instead put in poison?"

Iruka shuddered. He'd been covered in head to toe with that stuff for three days. He could still feel phantom itches from time to time.

"It definitely has potential." Iruka said finally, scratching one of said phantom itches. "But why _me_?" Rae shrugged.

"You're his favorite teacher, obviously." She said. "The only reason he doesn't prank me is because I'm in charge of his ramen intake." Iruka suddenly blinked as he realized something.

"Where is Naruto anyway? He's usually here around this time." He asked.

"Probably working on an exercise I gave him." Rae said. "I call it punishment, but he really enjoys training for some insane reason." Iruka blinked.

"You're teaching him something?" He asked.

"Just an old martial art. It might conflict with his taijutsu though..." Iruka hmmed.

"Well, he's been developing these odd habits when the students spar." He said thoughtfully. "When one of the students tried to punch him, he did this odd deflection and seemed to almost do something to the boy's arm before catching himself." Rae nodded.

"Probably an arm-breaking technique. I've forbid him from using the style in school, though. It's not meant to be used against kids his level." Iruka blinked.

"Really? What's it for, then?" He asked.

"Self-defense. Mostly against someone he doesn't have a snowball's chance in defeating."

"Hm..."

"Rae-chan!" Rae blinked as Naruto raced up to the ramen stand, waving at Rae dramatically.

"Speak of the devil..."

"Oi, Rae-chan!" Naruto bounded up and jumped onto a stool, grinning broadly with his face flushed with sweat. "I did it! I really did it! I managed to run around the park ten times without stopping!" Rae stared incomprehensibly.

"Naruto..." She said slowly. "I told you to run around the park _five_ times. With breaks in between." Naruto shrugged, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well, there's this one kid at school who said that he does it _twenty_ times, so I thought I might try doing it even more!" He said with a grin. "But hey! Kiyo-san stopped by while I was near your apartment and told me to give you this!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small red book, handing it to her. Iruka blinked owlishly.

"Rae-san, isn't that one of those Icha Icha books?" He said incredulously. Rae flushed and shoved the book in her pocket.

"... Maybe." Naruto nodded at his question.

"She said it was called Icha Icha Violence. Rae-chan's a big fan of the series! She reads the book _all_ the time—MMPH!" Rae slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth, still morbidly red in the face.

"Thank you, Naruto." She muttered. Iruka gave her an odd look but shrugged and paid for the meal.

"Well, I need to go anyway. Thank you Rae-san. See you in class, Naruto." He nodded at them and walked away. Naruto removed Rae's hand and scowled at her.

"Rae-chan, why do you always hide the fact that you read those books, anyway?" He asked. "Oji-san does the same thing! What's a pervert, anyway?" Rae pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut.

"That," She finally said. "Is a discussion I never, ever want to have."

* * *

"FAIL!"

"But Iruka-sensei-"

"No! Naruto, your clone is half-dead!"

"But-"

"NEXT!"

Naruto slumped and walked slowly from the room, kicking the door as he left. What would he say to Rae now? He'd been able to blow off his last failure as a fluke, but twice in a row? It was like the universe was trying to tell him something.

Imagine his surprise when Rae only blinked and replied "Then I guess you don't know what makes someone strong." Naruto scowled.

"But Rae-chan! I worked really hard this year too!" Rae raised an eyebrow as she set Naruto's customary bowl of ramen in front of him.

"So is that what you think makes someone strong then? Hard work only?" Naruto hmmphed as he dug into his ramen, thinking hard.

"... Yes?" He asked hesitantly. Rae shook her head.

"It certainly helps, but it isn't quite what gives you strength when you need to fight." She said.

"Then what is it?" Naruto demanded. Rae shook her head.

"Like I said, hero. It's something you have to figure out on your own."

"But you were strong when you protected me!" Naruto yelled. Rae smirked.

"That's because I had the secret." She said lightly, ruffling his hair. "Now all you need to do is find it yourself. But I think you're pretty close already; if you don't pass this year, I'll wear a pink dress for a whole year." Naruto could only stare wide-eyed at her.

"Really?"

"Naruto, when have I ever gone back on my word?" Rae asked. Naruto considered this for a while, then shrugged.

"Never, I guess. Don't worry though!" He grinned. "I'll make sure you won't have to do that! I'll pass this year without a doubt, and I'll be the greatest Hokage in the world! Believe it!" Rae smiled slightly.

"That's good. But I want you to do something this year, hero." She said sternly.

"Anything!"

"I want you to make friends." Naruto blinked owlishly at Rae.

"Friends?" Rae rubbed her ear.

"Yes, Naruto. Friends. I know you had trouble with that the past two years, but now you're the same age as everyone else." She said firmly. "You are going to make friends this year." Naruto looked at her appraisingly, then sighed.

"Fine." He scowled over another bowl of ramen, then looked up suddenly with a grin that Rae decided she did _not_ like. "By the way, nee-chan, I asked Oji-san what a pervert was." He grinned even wider when Rae choked, eyes wide.

"A-And?"

"He told me..." Suddenly Naruto blushed, looking away. "He gave me _the_ _talk_." Rae suddenly had a vivid image of the old Hokage, the most powerful ninja in Konoha, sitting in his office, Naruto on his knees, blushing as he told the blonde all about the 'birds and the bees'.

She burst into laughter.

* * *

Naruto sat in the corner of the classroom, scowling as he looked over the class. He rubbed the back of his ear as he went over his mental review of his classmates. He'd been observing them the first three weeks into the new year, and he'd narrowed down his classmates to quite a few that stuck out in his mind.

There was... Choji. The boy seemed to like chips as much as Naruto liked ramen, not to mention how friendly he seemed to be around the other students. Shikamaru was another interesting kid. But he slept even more than Naruto in class and always seemed to find something wrong with something.

Hm... Kiba seemed rather fun. And his nin-dog was pretty cool. Naruto decided he'd judge Kiba a bit further after he saw his reaction to one of his legendary pranks. Shino seemed kind of creepy, but Naruto had been hanging around Rae long enough to see he seemed almost shy instead of always scowling like most people would assume.

Then there was Sasuke. Naruto hmmed at the thought, sneaking a glance to said raven-haired boy that was glaring out a window. At first he'd tried to talk to the boy, seeing something in him that he recognized as some sort of need for acknowledgement he'd known most of his life. But Sasuke's kind of dark personality was a complete one-eighty from the kind he'd always associated with Rae, even if she scowled almost as much as the Uchiha and almost had the same smirk.

He just seemed more... cold. So Naruto instead moved on. There was Ino. But she always got all weird around Sasuke and seemed to scare a lot of boys around her. And Hinata. Naruto was a bit skeptic though; the pale-eyed girl had taken one look at Naruto that first day and looked away immediately, turning an odd shade of red. She hadn't really looked angry though, more... embarrassed? A possibility then, if he could get her to talk to him.

Or there was Sakura. Naruto glanced at the pink-haired girl from the corner of his eye. She was shy too, and always had her pink hair in her face and looked away when someone talked to her. She seemed pretty smart though; she was always answering the right thing when Iruka asked a question and went through their quizzes faster than anyone else.

He was still trying to find that promised friend. Rae had said that making friends was more a matter of finding someone that needed you as much as you needed them, but as far as Naruto was concerned he simply needed the company of any generally nice person. He remembered asking what other people would need when they'd had everything else in the world that he didn't. Rae's eyes had softened and she'd ruffled his hair slowly.

"_You know I once had a family." Naruto had gone completely stiff at her words. He hadn't really asked much about where Rae had come from before he met her in the alley that night, years ago. In return, she'd never asked why the orphanage kicked him out or even why the people seemed to hate him. Truth be told, Naruto wasn't sure that Rae even knew in the first place; maybe that was why she'd never hated him. There was one time on Rae's nineteenth birthday when he'd asked why she didn't have that many friends in Konoha, and she'd shrugged and said she was from somewhere far away._

"_It was the whole thing, hero. A mom, a dad. A house in a nice city." Rae had said, eyes far off as her hand rested on Naruto's head. "It was a really nice place too. Bigger than Konoha, even." Naruto stared at her with round eyes._

"_A whole family? Bigger than Konoha?"_

"_Whole lot more stuff, too. And you know what? I loved that place. I loved that life. It was peaceful and really carefree." But then she'd smirked down at Naruto. "And then I wind up in an alley of a city I didn't live in with nothing but the clothes on my back and a little puppy that made sure I wasn't lonely. You asked what people could need from you?" Naruto nodded with wide eyes. It sounded like Rae had been in heaven before she'd come to Konoha! And then she'd gone down to him, the thing that the entire village seemed to hate?_

"_I think we all need a little guy in our lives that decides that even if he had nothing himself, he still wants to give everything he's got." Rae smirked down at the gaping Naruto. "I think we all need a hero." Naruto grinned before slowly settling into a thinking pose._

"_... So how does that help me make friends?" Rae's face then dwindled into something sheepish for all of three seconds before she scowled._

"_You killed a nice speech, Naruto." She growled. "I guess a good friend is just someone that you can go camping with in the middle of the big, bad woods with and sleep feeling that you'll survive until morning. Ya know, someone to trust with your life." She then grinned sheepishly, very out of place for her._

"_I'm not making much sense, am I?"_

"_Not really, nee-chan. Why would I go camp in the woods? Is it for a mission?"_

"_Ehhh, sure."_

"_Then I won't sleep at all! I'd finish the mission before lunch and get back for ramen! Believe it!"_

"_Oh, Naruto..."_

"Naruto?" Naruto blinked himself out of his thoughts as he realized someone was talking to him and that the students had already filed back into the classroom. He blinked up at Iruka.

"Eh?" Iruka looked somewhat worried.

"You okay?" Naruto grinned, flashing a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, Iruka-sensei! I'm definitely going to pass this year! Believe it!" His voiced dropped into a whisper as his eyes grew wide. "Rae-chan said if I don't pass this year, she'll wear a pink dress for a whole _year_. And she's never gone back on her word!" Iruka briefly pictured the scowling girl that worked at the ramen stand in pink and lace before shuddering.

"You'd definitely better pass then." He said, half-joking and half-serious. "I don't want to think of what she'd do to people that laughed at her then."

"Ha! She'd probably kick them all in the-"

"Naruto!"

"What? She did it before to this one guy! Really, really hard, too!"

"..."

"... What?"

* * *

Naruto panted heavily as he stepped in closer, watching his attacker throw a jab at his nose. He brought up an arm and moved the attacking fist to the side, his other arm coming up for an open palm to the attacker's throat. When they gagged and paused, he kicked the side of their knee, bringing his own knee up and directly into their falling face.

He then flashed a peace sign at her. "Ha! Did it!" Rae absentmindedly rubbed her face and throat as she stood, though she still smirked. Naruto hadn't been going hard enough to actually harm her like he could have, something she really appreciated.

"Not bad, otouto." She said finally. "You almost let down your guard when you kicked me though. If I'd been faster, I would have probably gone for your throat." Naruto pouted.

"You _always_ go for the throat though." He whined, unconsciously holding his own neck. "Why?" Rae shrugged, tapping the odd scar on her neck.

"It's the most vulnerable part of the body." She explained. "One hit to it, armed or unarmed, can easily get you killed." Naruto hmmphed.

"But you don't let us spar with kunai!" He exclaimed. "Or shuriken! Or _anything_."

"I don't know how to use any of that stuff, hero." Rae scowled. "Martial arts is meant for when you have nothing but your own body. But," She peered at Naruto appraisingly. "Using most of the moves I taught you with a kunai in your hand... Yes, those would work..." Naruto grinned.

"So can we try using kunai then?" Rae looked at him incredulously.

"_Hell_ no." She exclaimed. "I'm not suicidal! But I think it might be interesting to learn with a practice stick. I actually did learn some basics of using daggers with the style..." Rae waved off his expression. "But later. For now I want to work on your moves. You're still somewhat sloppy."

"I just keep forgetting which way to move!" Naruto growled. "It's hard because I'm learning academy taijutsu too!" Rae hmmed.

"That's a problem." She finally said. "Because you suck at taijutsu more than this. You're actually really good at this," She reassured him. "But if there's one thing I've learned, you can always be better. I'm not even a master at it myself." Naruto grinned.

"Then I'll just train harder!" He exclaimed. "I'll master it no problem! And I won't go back on my word! Believe it!" Rae suddenly paused as a movement caught the corner of her eye.

"Naruto..." She said quietly, not looking at the tree where a dark-haired figure seemed to be hiding. "Did anyone follow you from the academy?" She whispered. Naruto blinked and shook his head.

"Not that I know of." He said, shrugging. "Why?" Rae pointed to the tree, where the figure gasped and hid behind it. "Oh. Hey! You!" Naruto yelled to the tree. "Get out here! Spying on people is rude you know!" Rae sweat dropped. Naruto still never ceased to amaze her sometimes...

"S-Sorry..." Rae blinked as a tiny girl about Naruto's age timidly stepped out from behind the tree, head down in shame and fingers pressed together nervously. "I-I was j-just curious." She said quietly. Rae swore in her head as she realized that it took her at least a minute of staring before she recognized the girl as Hyuuga Hinata. Her memory was starting to fail.

"I know you!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing to her. "You're that girl that always turns red when I talk to you!" He said, cocking his head to the side. "Are you sick or something?"

"Naruto!" Rae whapped the back of Naruto's head. She then raised an eyebrow at the girl. "Well? It's okay, come here. At least introduce yourself." The girl eeped quietly but walked forward, looking up and meeting Rae's eyes, who tried not to fidget as milky eyes stared at her.

"M-My name's Hyuuga Hinata." She said quietly. Naruto blinked and grinned.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He said, pointing to himself. He then pointed to Rae. "And that's Rae-chan! She's kind of scary at first, but she's really nice once you know her!" Rae whapped his head again.

"Kuroda Rae." She said, trying to remove the scowl from her face at Naruto's words. She wasn't that scary, dammit! "Nice to meet you."

"..." Hinata only looked away from Naruto with a blush, making Rae's eyebrows raise and a smirk slowly form. She hid it with a cough.

"So, Hinata..." Rae glanced sideways at Naruto. "How long have you been there?" Hinata flushed.

"A-About half an hour..." Rae hmmed. They'd been sparring for at least forty minutes. It was a rather secluded section of the park that they were always in, so they usually didn't have visitors. Rae only said that it was private lessons anyway.

"Hey Rae-chan, can Hinata stay for a while?" Naruto suddenly asked, turning from where he'd been staring curiously at Hinata. "I know it's private lessons, but Hinata's really good at taijutsu at the academy! She's probably as good as Sasuke even!" Rae raised an eyebrow at the very-red Hinata.

"Is that so..." Rae murmured. "That's fine, then. We've only got about half an hour left, anyway. Care to join us, Hinata?" Hinata blushed and nodded. Naruto grinned.

"Great! Then we can all go get ramen after! Do you like ramen, Hinata?"

Naruto decided he'd found a good friend when she blushed and nodded.

* * *

"Th-Thank you, Rae-san." Rae shrugged as she set the bowl in front of Hinata, handing her a pair of chopsticks.

"It's no problem." She only said. Naruto, sitting besides Hinata, grinned as he set down his third bowl.

"So Hinata," He said, pushing his bowl towards Rae. "What were you doing at the park anyway? Not many people go to where we were." Hinata blushed lightly at the attention.

"I-I was taking a w-walk... I was g-going to be alone, b-but..." Her blush deepened. "Th-Then I h-heard you t-training a-and I s-started to watch..." Rae filled Naruto's bowl and pushed it back towards the boy.

"Hm." Was all she said. Hinata ducked her head.

"I-I'm sorry for s-spying but-"

"No, no, that's fine." Rae cut her off, waving a hand. The stuttering was really making any conversation difficult. Oh well, she supposed she could live with it for Naruto. "Naruto's an interesting kid, isn't he? I sometimes find myself staring at him myself and wondering what the hell could possibly be going on in that thick skull."

"Nee-chan!"

"Yes, Naruto?" Rae blinked innocently at Naruto before smirking. Naruto scowled back, slamming a fist on the counter.

"Hinata was probably amazed with my awesome martial arts!" He declared, pointing at the timid girl dramatically. "Isn't that right Hinata?" Hinata was slowly resembling a tomato.

"I-I-"

"Hinata." Rae sighed. "It's okay. Be calm. Take three deep breaths and nod your head slowly." Hinata slowly inhaled and exhaled, then bobbed her head up and down. "Now answer Naruto's retarded question before he has a heart attack."

"Rae-chan!" Hinata exhaled once more.

"I-I was curious about the taijutsu you were using." She looked up at Rae in wonder when she realized she'd only stuttered once. "H-How-"

"I used to be shy myself, Hinata." Rae said, an amused twitch at her lips. "I know you might think I'm pretty scary now, but when I learned to fight I learned to be a bit more confident. The breaths and nodding thing was something I used to have to do before learning to punch someone in the gut." Hinata seemed a bit sick at the thought, but nodded again.

"I-I wish I c-could be more c-confident." She whispered. "F-Father doesn't l-like it when I s-stutter." The older girl sighed.

"I'd think it's just you being shy." She said in reassurance. "Lots of people start off as shy. Then there's those that decide that they're going to plunge right through whatever they think and feel." Simultaneously, the two girls turned to the blonde that was rapidly eating his fifth bowl. He blinked back owlishly.

"What?" Hinata giggled while Rae shook her head.

"Anyway, you seem like you want to ask something. Ask away, Hinata. I'm not sure if I can always answer, but you'll never know unless you ask." Hinata pressed the tips of her fingers together shyly.

"I-I was wondering w-what kind of taijutsu y-you two were using." She said, ducking her head slightly. "I-I haven't s-seen any other shinobi u-use it before." Rae's lips quirked.

"Hinata. I'm not a ninja." Hinata blinked, startled. "I've never had any training in any ninja arts."

"B-But that t-taijutsu-"

"Hinata, what's the definition of a taijutsu?" Hinata blinked.

"I-It's a sh-shinobi technique using the b-body and p-potentially chakra to d-dispatch the e-enemy." Rae nodded.

"And my martial arts are me using my body to _neutralize_ an _attacker._ There's a big difference," She added when Hinata didn't seem to understand. "For one, it's meant for people without too much strength at all. I've barely trained my body my entire life. For another, to neutralize an attacker means that I didn't pick the fight myself. It's terrible for actually attacking someone." Hinata seemed confused.

"D-Doesn't attack?" Rae nodded.

"It's pure defense. Well, in the sense that someone can't attack you when you've broken their bones and internal organs." Naruto nodded eagerly.

"And kicked them in the-"

"Naruto!" Hinata was still perplexed.

"Th-Then w-what-" Rae sighed.

"What use is it for a ninja?" She finished. Hinata seemed mortified as she ducked her head, blushing heavily. "It's fine, it's a good question. It's actually a style that is meant for fighting someone you don't want to fight. It's for getting away." Hinata looked up, startled.

"B-But why w-would you r-run from an e-enemy?"

"Hinata," Rae said gently. "I told you. I'm not a ninja. I don't _want_ to fight people. But I also don't want someone to come up to me and push me around like I'm completely helpless. It's a last resort and only to be used as necessary. It's not supposed to kill people... usually." She became unfocused for a moment before shaking her head. "It's just you telling other people not to mess with you and that you aren't going down without a fight." Rae suddenly smirked. "It's kind of like Naruto."

"Yeah! … Wait, what?" Naruto blinked up at the dark-haired girl, who only waved him off. He shrugged. "Whatever. But it's still really cool to learn! And now I don't have to worry about someone hurting my friends!" He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "Cuz if anyone tries to, I can just get in front of them and kick their asses!" Rae ruffled Naruto's hair proudly.

"Exactly, hero." Naruto stared at Rae in confusion for a second, before shrugging again and turning to Hinata.

"But I'm going to master it once I become Hokage!" He said firmly. "And I'll protect the entire village just like the Fourth! He was the best Hokage out of all of them, and I'll surpass him too! Believe it!" Hinata was now staring at Naruto with an odd look in her eye, and Rae rolled her eyes.

_Good grief. Naruto's stunned his first girl._ Rae suddenly had a mental image of fighting off dozens of girls chasing after a sixteen-year-old Naruto. _At least this one I approve of._

Hinata then glanced at the clock and gasped. "I-I'm late!" She whimpered, stepping down from the stool. Naruto blinked then waved.

"Well, see you tomorrow Hinata-chan!" He called. Hinata froze and looked at Naruto for a long moment, then slowly smiled.

"S-See you N-Naruto-kun." She stuttered, then bowed to Rae and Naruto before turning and running down the street. Rae hmmed after her retreating figure.

"She's cute. I approve, Naruto-_kun_." Naruto didn't seem to understand, making the older girl smirk. "I'll bet you can't wait to meet your Hinata-_chan_ at school tomorrow." Naruto looked at Rae for a long moment.

"You're acting weird, nee-chan." He finally said, narrowing his eyes. "Are you feeling okay?" Rae scowled, rubbing her ear.

"You make teasing so hard sometimes, Naruto." She grumbled. "Fine. You'll have to deal with it yourself. If you end up with a harem, don't come crying to me." She growled, throwing her arms up and stalking away. Naruto blinked and followed after.

"What's a harem?"

Rae groaned.

* * *

"Rae-chan! Six bowls of ramen please!"

"Oh, Na-... Naruto?" Rae looked up from the book she was reading with a bewildered look on her face. She would only bring out her red book around this time of day, when Teuchi had gone on his lunch break (turned out he didn't eat ramen as often as one with a ramen stand might) and there were virtually no customers. Speaking of time... "Is school out early? And who are they?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck sheepishly as he waved a hand to the three boys (and dog) behind him. "This is Shikamaru," Shikamaru hmmed and raised a brow at Rae. "Choji," Choji waved his bag of chips in a friendly wave. "And Kiba." Kiba flashed a feral (yet adorable) grin as he pointed to the white lump on his head.

"And this is Akamaru!" He said, the puppy yipping in response. Rae looked them all over with a blank expression before shrugging.

"Kuroda Rae." She said, nodding before turning to Naruto. "Now is class out early?"

"Well..."

Naruto rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly while the other three tensed. Iruka had to know her if she worked at Ichiraku's, right? Naruto probably knew better than to tell her-

"We skipped class!" He chirped, sitting casually on a stool and motioning for the other three to join him. Instead they watched Rae sigh heavily.

"Naruto, I'm very disappointed in you," She said. The four looked up with wide eyes. "You didn't even invite Hinata!"

_... What?_ The same thought ran through their minds. Shikamaru and Choji were really the only of the group to know each other. Naruto had seen them sneaking away from the grounds that afternoon and had followed, jumping and asking where they were going. Kiba had heard the three talking and exclaimed excitedly that if they were going to ditch, then by all means let him come.

Then the four stood around awkwardly until Naruto suggested they go get ramen, a food he declared to be the greatest in the world. Choji seemed elated at the idea of food and Shikamaru simply shrugged. Then Kiba said wouldn't the worker's at the ramen stand rat them out? After all, they all knew Iruka-sensei was a regular at Ichiraku's.

_"Nah. Rae-chan's the only one at the stand around this time, and she won't care!"_ Naruto had exclaimed.

They hadn't really believe him, but now looking at the scowling girl they could only shake their heads.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto yelped, eyes wide. "But I didn't think Hinata-chan would've wanted to come!" Rae only scowled harder, then relaxed with a sigh.

"Just remember to ask her next time." She finally said, making the three students behind Naruto reel back in shock. _Next time?_ Rae quirked an eyebrow at their expressions.

"Well, of course you're going to do this again." She stated, rolling her eyes. "Only two months into the year and you ditch, then you expect me to believe that you'll simply stop? Pfft." She brought out six bowls of ramen while they digested this. "I'm not stupid."

Eventually the boys shrugged and began to make their way towards the ramen, only to blink as it was inhaled by Naruto in front of them. Naruto blinked at them.

"What? He asked around the last of the sixth bowl. "Did you guys want some too?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Naruto still didn't understand even as Rae rolled her eyes and sighed heavily, changing the subject. "So you're all at the academy?" Kiba nodded.

"We're just ditching 'cuz Iruka-sensei got too boring again." He said in excitement. Shikamaru shrugged.

"I'm just going along with it." He muttered. Rae hmmed.

"And you two?" She asked the last two boys.

"Ramen!" They chorused, both giving Rae a thumbs up. Her lips quirked.

"Then I'd better start making a new pot," She said in amusement. "But only if you manage to finish it."

"Rae-chan," Naruto said slowly, disbelief in his voice. "I can eat _three_ pots of Ichiraku's ramen by myself! We can handle one measly pot! Believe it!"

The rest of them just rolled their eyes.

* * *

"I just don't get it, Rae..." Iruka sighed and gently placed the chopsticks on the counter. "He doesn't give up."

Rae only shrugged as she wiped the bowl clean, placing it in the back and coming back to the man. "Come on, Iruka." She said. "You should've moved on from this by now. Even if Naruto doesn't pass this year," _And he_ _will_, Rae silently added. "You know he'll just bounce back up and do everything to make the village acknowledge him. He's been working so hard since the Hokage first told him he could be a ninja..." Rae closed her eyes as images of Naruto yelling and punching a nearly-broken tree, long past the sun setting, flashed through her mind.

"He's always trying to get that." Iruka growled silently. "What I don't get is _why_? Why does he want attention from people that hate him for something he can't control?" Rae sighed.

"I don't know." She said quietly. "I once asked him, somewhere around his eleventh birthday. We were cornered by at least three men and one of them managed to give Naruto a black eye before he snapped out of his trance." Rae still didn't forgive herself for thinking that it would have been safe to go out just because it was a few days _before_ October tenth. Apparently some civilians got started early. She took care not to mention to Iruka how the black eye had faded before Naruto had even known it was there. "I took him home and asked him why the hell he'd want attention from people who would attack innocent kids. He looked up at me with wide eyes and said 'They just don't know that I'm innocent, Rae-chan!'" Rae mocked Naruto's high, excited voice almost perfectly, complete with a stupid grin that really seemed out of place on her. "'But once they see that I'm protecting them, they'll acknowledge me as the greatest hero that ever lived! Believe it!'" Rae's face dropped back into a scowl. "And then what could I say? That this place is crawling with dumb-assed civilians and greater-than-thou ninja just waiting for him to slip up so they can slit his throat?" Iruka coughed lightly, but he could see what Rae meant. There were times he wasn't sure who he could trust with even talking about how Naruto did in his classes, seeing how anything Naruto did was fuel to a fire that didn't want to die.

It was really a good thing there was Rae. He wasn't sure what Naruto would do if the scowling girl wasn't there to pick him up in the midst of a mob of civilians. On Iruka's part he tried to keep Naruto away from certain ninja he knew weren't too well-disposed towards the boy.

It was rather funny; he'd always been more mild than most ninja, giving him an almost-civilian-like quality in everyday life, while Rae had always been... sharper than most civilians, seeming to always be out of place doing something as boring as serving ramen (not that her scowling helped any). Almost like a ninja.

"I don't know," He muttered. "he's just so _happy_ all the damn time..." Rae cocked her head to the side suddenly.

"What brought this all on, anyway?" She suddenly asked. "Did something happen?" Iruka hmmed.

"I had a talk with Mizuki today about Naruto..." Iruka said slowly. Rae inwardly wondered why the name seemed to be really important... damn it. "And he... said some stuff. I'd personally always thought him to be somewhat neutral about Naruto, seeing how he doesn't _usually_ show any open hostility. Not unless he's particularly upset about something."

"Usually?" Rae rolled her eyes. "Iruka-san, I've found that if the words a person says in extreme emotion are a stark contrast from the _usual_, then you've got a two-face on your hands." Iruka scowled.

"It's not his fault, he's just..." Iruka struggled for a way to defend his colleague, but then said man's words from earlier popped back in his mind and he let out a sigh. "Never mind. I'm not sure myself, anyway."

"Why? What'd he say?"

"He said..." Iruka seemed torn. "... That it'd be better for the village if the 'Kyuubi brat' would just crawl off into the woods and died."

**Crack!**

Iruka blinked at the shattered porcelain while Rae's lip curled in a snarl, hands still clenched in what little of the bowl was left.

"That... that _bastard_!" Rae snarled in English. Iruka stared even further when the tiniest amount of killing intent, not even a genin's size, but still more than any civilian, seemed to ooze out of the girl. "If he so much as _touches_ Naruto I'll rip out his entrails and feed him his liver! God damned ninja or not!" She snapped, clenching her fists tightly. Rae had suddenly remembered who it was that led Naruto away into the woods and tried to kill him after telling him he was the Kyuubi's container. It was something crucial to Naruto's life, but something she suddenly wanted more than ever to prevent.

She suddenly wondered when exactly she'd stopped thinking of the characters as _characters_ and started calling them _people_.

Rae shook her head. She'd think about that later, for now she'd fight off the odd urge to strangle something... Oh, Iruka had said something. "What?" She asked, reverting back to Japanese.

He was now looking at her with calculating eyes. "I'm not sure you can know what it was like to lose someone in the Kyuubi attack." He said gently, though oddly wary. Rae blinked. Was he asking something?

"I didn't live here at the time," She said honestly. "So I guess I can't really know what Mizuki feels," She admitted grudgingly. "I didn't really lose anyone because of a mountain-sized bijuu." Rae shuddered at the thought. "I can't imagine what that'd be like."

"Then how the hell do you know about the Kyuubi?" Iruka said suddenly, sitting up straight and looking at Rae. "Naruto's... condition is an S-class secret, especially from foreigners!" Rae nearly went cross-eyed as she realized her mistake.

_Shit! I forgot about the secret part!_ Rae frantically searched her mind for an excuse before a light bulb went off.

"Well, the Kyuubi attack was eleven years ago, and Naruto's the village pariah. I just put two and two together." She said, fighting to keep her face straight. Great, lying to a ninja; one of the many things she swore she'd never do. Mainly because it was stupid. The thought made her scowl. "Naruto's not the only one like that, you know. There's eight other bijuu out there. How do you think they've dealt with them?" Iruka stared at Rae for a moment longer before hmming in thought.

"So where are you from?" He asked casually. "I've always noticed you've had a strange accent, if you don't mind me saying. And I've never heard that language before." Rae shrugged; she'd still never gotten out of her accent. Maybe she'd have it forever...

At least as long as she was stuck here. Rae had given up on going home years ago, though.

"A country far away from here." Rae murmured, looking somewhere past Iruka. Iruka blinked.

"What was it called?"

"... Japan." Rae finally said truthfully. It's not like they'd find it, anyway. "But I was originally from America. They speak a different language there." Iruka blinked.

"I've never heard of that country." He said, but then narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure you aren't-"

"I'd appreciate you not accusing me, Iruka-san, over something you just aren't informed about." Rae snapped. "I may not tell people every little thing about me, but I have my reasons."

"..." Iruka just stared at Rae unblinkingly, making her rub the back of her ear then sigh heavily, pressing a hand to her temple.

"Sorry, Iruka. I'm just not feeling that great tonight." She offered a weak smile, then sighed again. "I think I'm gonna take off early, Teuchi-san!" Rae called, reaching a hand in her pocket and yanking out Icha Icha Violence. She needed a distraction from that godforsaken angst that she almost spilled on poor Iruka, and for once she didn't care who saw her with the smut.

Damn addicting smut.

Iruka only stared after her retreating figure.

* * *

"Ah, Iruka." The Hokage greeted the scarred teacher with a friendly nod behind his desk. "Do you have something to report?" Iruka sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Yes sir. Rae-san told me where she's from." That made the Hokage straighten up in his seat. He'd asked Iruka, as a regular patron to Ichiraku's, to make occasional reports on the girl, though only saying that it was unknown where she was from and making it seem like a passing interest.

Falcon, initially disturbed by his lack of intel on the girl, had been searching for any information on the girl's past with the air of a man that had never before been thwarted in such a manner. Even ROOT members had a file, though usually so well-hidden that it presented quite a challenge. Even then, it couldn't quite be linked to Danzo.

Kuroda Rae had presented quite a problem these past years. A girl, one with absolutely no background as far as they could find in the five nations, had appeared and became the absolute figure in the village jinchuuriki's life. Technically speaking, a jinchuuriki was eventually the most powerful shinobi in the entire village. A position in his life like Rae's, entirely influential and with no small amount of respect, made her virtually untouchable.

And if Naruto became Hokage like he strived for nowadays, then she'd initially have the entire Fire Country wrapped around her little finger. It was possible she was simply the nice—yet grumpy—girl that Naruto believed her to be, but with nothing but shadows around her it was not something he could drop. Nor something he could quite pursue without a _real_ cause rather than simple suspicions.

"Did she mention a country then?" The Hokage asked, rubbing his beard thoughtfully. Again, he thought he was getting too old for this. Iruka hesitated.

"Yes, sir. But I've never heard of it. She called it 'Japan'. And then she mentioned being from another country originally called 'America'." Sarutobi raised his eyebrows. He'd never heard of those either.

"Was she lying then?"

"I thought so at first, but..." Iruka paused. "Then she spoke in an entirely different language, and I do believe she was swearing." He added in amusement. The old man's brows raised his hairline. A different language? There was only one spoken language throughout all the nations, and as far as he, the Professor knew, there were very, very few other languages around. And those were old ones used for ancient rites, though never really spoken in everyday use.

But if that accent was anything to go by, it was her first language. Which meant that she had been around other people that spoke the same language. Which meant that it was entirely possible that she was from a country that no one had ever heard of.

Which would make any background information absolutely impossible.

The Sandaime was now seriously considering retirement.

* * *

Ha, FAILED speech giving. I can only imagine how embarrassing that must be. xD And no, Rae can not hide from the Hokage. I know that while going to the Hokage is a very common thing to do in real world OC inserts (and I usually try to avoid common things), it is something that just can not be completely avoided, and will eventually come into play. At least she tried? :D

But now we are in Naruto's last year of the academy! W00T! *throws confetti* And last chapter people were asking about Hinata and the three boys, and the funny part? I HAD WRITTEN THIS CHAPTER LONG BEFORE POSTING THIS STORY. Good timing neh? Weird.

But hey, I need to know a few things. Question time~!

1: I don't know how many of you read the manga, but I have never seen the anime. But I heard that Kakashi is always late because he goes to the memorial stone. I have never seen a word of this in the manga. Is it something the anime just made up, or is there a point in the manga that actually shows this? If so, could you please point it out to me?

2: What _exactly_ is wrong with Lee's chakra? I heard something about a damaged chakra system, but is it something about the tenketsu points? Is it the chakra coils? I know something's wrong, but I don't know the details themselves.

3: (MOST IMPORTANT) What do you want to see in this story's future? Or to be a bit more specific, what _don't_ you want to see? Is there something that you've always wanted to see in an OC story, or something that you've seen in other stories that you absolutely despise? I'd hate to make the same mistake, after all.

And feel free to ask questions. I can't guarantee I'll answer them all perfectly (I like keeping future plot twists a surprise, after all) but I will never hesitate to respond with the best answer I can come up with. Only if you ask a question though. Reviews are still awesome though~! AND THANKS AGAIN SOUSIE! YOU SHOULD ALL BOW BEFORE SOUSIE'S AWESOMENESS!

Peace out.

**Edit: Leonardo, I have one thing to ask you about your answer to the third question... HAVE YOU TRULY SEEN THE FUTURE? Regardless of how you _know_ my _exact plans_ for Rae, you shall have your wish! Both of them! ... Seriously, how'd you know? I am literally going to do both of those; I've been planning it for a while now, and have even written part of it. Your review really and truly scared me witless. :O**


	6. Brains

Okay, the whole increasing number of reviews thing? AWESOME. I really didn't expect much when I was first writing this story, but I've gotten over twenty reviews in the past ten days~! *love* No, I don't care if that's not much in comparison to a lot of Naruto stories. That's still over forty reviews of LOVE~!

Anyway, I really apologize for the length. I couldn't find a good stopping point though that wouldn't make this chapter super short though, so I'll just tell you that I don't think I'm going to keep writing chapters with over ten thousand words. Just... no.

Anyway, enjoy. Heh, brainz...

* * *

Naruto all but dragged his feet towards his apartment, rubbing his aching wrists and yawning. He'd been training all day after the academy, seeing how Rae was working today, but instead of going to the ramen stand like he usually did he'd been working on a move that Rae had showed him almost a week ago.

He couldn't wait to see the look on Rae's face when they trained again and he used it perfectly.

Naruto grinned at the thought, then blinked as a muffled curse reached his ears. Instantly on his guard, Naruto carefully stalked towards the noise then relaxed considerably as he turned a corner. And laughed.

Rae was sprawled on the ground rubbing her head, having crashed into a pole face-first when she'd been trying to read and walk at the same time. Her red book was laying beside her, having dropped it to cradle her face.

It was a very undignified position to be in.

"Damn..." Rae growled as she picked herself up, grabbing her book. She apparently wasn't that skilled... But Rae had been known for her pride. And her pride said that walking and reading could _not_ possibly be that hard. Even if she'd been trying it for the past few days... and those _looks_ she'd gotten from the other villagers when they noticed what she was reading (though the crashing might have been it too).

_Eh, I'll get a book sock._ Rae finally decided. So she picked up where she'd left off, stalking away before running into a shorter figure. She blinked down.

"Naruto?" Naruto only popped up, rubbing his head from where it'd bumped into Rae's elbow.

"That _hurt_ Rae-chan! Aren't you paying attention to your surroundings?" He quipped. That happened to be Rae's favorite saying in her martial art lessons, a fact he relished rubbing in her face. Rae twitched, then held up her book.

"I'm reading." She said flatly.

"You can't read and watch where you're going!" Naruto exclaimed. He'd tried it before with his favorite book, the one Rae had given him a few years ago. He'd crashed into a door before remembering to open it.

"I'll learn." Rae said, inching around Naruto and walking away, nose in book. Naruto followed after.

"I don't think you can learn that, Rae-chan." He said seriously. "You get too dizzy after running into things, and then you can't concentrate enough to learn _anything_." Rae stopped short at his logic.

"... I can do it." She finally said stubbornly. Naruto snickered.

"No you can't!"

"Yes I can!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Don't start that game with me!"

"You'd lose anyway!"

"No I wouldn't!"

"Yes you would!"

"I _will_ learn how to walk and read at the same time!" Rae finally snapped, shaking her little red book in the air at an imaginary podium. "And I'll do it perfectly! Believe it!"

"..." A long, morbid silence filled the air, Rae slowly turning a shade of death and covering her hand with her mouth as Naruto's jaw dropped.

"Did... did I just..." She whispered in horror through her fingers, slowly lowering her book from the sky. Naruto only stared at Rae with wide eyes.

"..."

"..." Rae shivered violently, wrapping her arms around herself.

_A fluke. A total fluke. A complete one-time thing. Never going to happen again. _Rae repeated the mantra like a man on a raft in the middle of the ocean repeating that he was going to reach land any second.

She got the same feeling of _not gonna happen_ too.

"... Naruto." Rae said finally, closing her eyes as color slowly returned to her face. "You will not speak of this again."

"... Okay." Naruto hesitantly nodded.

"You will not remind me that I said that."

"Okay." Naruto agreed.

"You will keep saying your catchphrase whenever the hell you want, and I will simply let it slide by me."

"Okay." Naruto affirmed.

"That _never happened_."

"Don't worry, Rae-chan!" Naruto reassured Rae, giving her a thumbs up. "It never happened at all! Believe it!"

Rae nearly went comatose.

* * *

Rae hummed quietly as she flipped a page in her covered book, leaning on the counter of Ichiraku's. Her previous decision of getting a book sock now meant that she could read her red book during work hours even if there were customers around, something she had been unable to do previously. Which was good, because she hadn't gotten too far in the book and she really needed a distraction from thinking about home since Iruka had—_Oooh_.

Rae's eyes glittered when Nao tumbled down the stairs, knowing that Akiko had walked out of the shower at the bottom but had forgotten her towel... The scene could either end in great smut or something quite violent, something that Rae truly loved about the book-

"Is it really that interesting?" Rae slapped the book shut and blinked rapidly at the face in front of her, trying not to look guilty.

"... It is my favorite." Rae admitted quietly, grateful again for the book sock. "Would you like your usual, Iruka?" Iruka nodded and she gave his order to Teuchi, retrieving a bowl and handing it to Iruka. Not really in a talking mood after her embarrassing outburst two weeks before, Rae opened her book to its previous page and continued reading.

Damn, she loved that book.

"So, Rae..." Rae didn't even look up as Iruka finished his ramen and hesitated. "About last time..."

"Whatever." She said, not looking up. "I just get homesick sometimes. Sorry about snapping."

"Ah." Rae flipped a page in the book, smirking as Akiko began strangling Nao for his accidental perversion, though in a very awkward position...

Ah, violence. The perfect prelude to smut. It was no wonder she liked Icha Icha Violence more than Icha Icha Paradise.

"You know, if you keep looking at it like that anyone with a good eye for reactions will know _exactly _what you're reading." Rae coughed and blushed, but didn't put the book down.

"That's only the ninja then." She sniffed. "About ten percent of the population. I am _not_ giving up reading my damn favorite book because of ten percent. Besides," She added. "I'm trying to learn to walk and read at the same time. And," She growled out. "Don't you give me that crap about it being impossible. I _will_ learn it! Belie-" Rae suddenly paled and slapped a hand over her mouth, shaking her head in horror. Iruka raised an eyebrow.

_Did she almost say... Nah._

"It's possible," He instead said, thinking about a silver-haired man and his little orange book. "But you'd have to be pretty observant to not walk into a pole." He raised an eyebrow when Rae flushed in embarrassment.

Rae then scowled as she flipped a page in her book. "Well, I'll bloody learn. My mind will eventually pick up _something_ about being observant if it keeps crashing into poles and walls." Iruka twitched.

"I see where Naruto gets half his logic..." He muttered under his breath. Rae blinked up at him.

"You say something?"

"Nothing, nothing..." Rae shrugged and went back to her book. Iruka sighed and finally decided to bring up why he was here. Not that the ramen wasn't a good reason in itself. "You know, if you're homesick, talking about home might cheer you up."

Rae snapped the book shut and scowled at Iruka, but then sighed and looked away. "I shouldn't be homesick though," She muttered darkly. "I've given up on getting home years ago." Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"Then couldn't you simply save for a vacation at home?" He asked. Rae scowled even harder.

"It's more complicated than that." Was all she said, flipping open the book. Iruka coughed.

"Then why don't you tell me about it?" He offered gently. "I've never heard of Japan, or even America..." Rae eyed Iruka over the top of her book.

"If you're asking about it," Rae snapped. "Then just _ask_, dammit. Don't make it seem like you're all that worried about how it makes me feel." Iruka winced.

"It just seemed more polite." He murmured weakly. Rae sighed, again snapping her book closed and looking at Iruka.

"Sorry." She said again. "But I really don't feel like talking about it. If I can't get home then it's going to be shoved in the back of my mind and buried under rubble. Simple as that." Suddenly Rae stared hard at Iruka. "Now why are you so curious all of a sudden?" Iruka shrugged, rubbing his nose.

"Ah..."

"The Hokage." Rae suddenly whispered, paling slightly. She shook her head a moment later. She'd figured Naruto would spill the beans; it wasn't quite something she could expect him to keep quiet about. And the Hokage knew Iruka... Damn.

Damn damn _damn_.

"You're telling the Hokage everything I'm telling you about me." It wasn't a question, and Rae glowered at the chunin. Iruka sighed, nodding.

"You're a mystery, Rae-san." Iruka said seriously, smile gone. "No background of any sort, the fact that you're obviously not from Konoha, and not to mention your affiliation with Naruto. It's all very suspicious." Rae scowled for a long moment before sighing.

"I know," She muttered. "It's something I can't help. I can't really say anything to make it any better either. I can't _prove_ anything I tell you about my past, Iruka." She said, looking the chunin in the eye. "And I know you ninja aren't the kind to take words at face-value. Anything I say is something that'll be run through intelligence and matched up to any facts that might relate to it. I'm sure I've frustrated the Hokage when he never heard of Japan or America." At Iruka's blank stare she nodded knowingly. "And I didn't even lie. I'm being completely honest here," Rae said, idly sweeping away the broken porcelain to the side. She'd have to pay for that later. "But I can't prove it. And therefore what I say should be written away as 'possible lie'."

When Iruka said nothing Rae worked on cleaning the counter. As she finished, Iruka finally hmmed in thought. "So," He said, relaxing and slumping slightly. "I suppose we're at a standstill." Rae wagged her finger at the man.

"Where I come from," She said, smirking at him. "We call it an _impasse_."

* * *

Hinata blushed as she walked beside Naruto, idly pressing her fingers together. Naruto had come up to her after class and asked her if she wanted to have ramen with him. She'd taken three deep breaths then nodded slowly, smiling.

"I... I'd love to, Naruto-kun." She had said shyly, eventually looking away. Hinata was still rather grateful for Rae's advice; she'd tried the breathing and nodding method before talking to her father, and he'd raised an eyebrow at her obvious decrease in stuttering before answering.

It wasn't quite approval, but it was still acknowledgement.

"So what's your favorite ramen, Hinata-chan?" Naruto chirped beside her, hands at the back of his head. Hinata fidgeted.

"I-I like p-pork ramen." She said quietly. "H-How about you?" Naruto grinned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I like miso the best!" He said cheerfully. "But all ramen's good ramen! Believe it!" The two walked on in silence before Hinata fidgeted again.

"N-Naruto-kun..."

"Hm?" Naruto blinked towards Hinata curiously. Hinata blushed.

"W-What was that book you w-were reading the other day in class? Iruka-sensei seemed so mad..." She asked as Ichiraku's came in sight. Naruto blushed heavily, looking away.

"Ah, well..."

"UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Naruto yelped and ducked behind the eeping Hinata as Rae stormed up to them from behind the counter, lip curled in a snarl and eyes narrowed and terrifying.

Hinata fainted.

Naruto took one look at his fallen cover then meeped quietly as Rae grabbed the back of his collar, lifting him to her face with unnatural strength.

"Uzumaki Naruto..." Rae growled out slowly. "I've just had a _talk_ with Iruka. He mentioned a certain _book_ you've been reading in class... and a certain passage you _wrote all over the walls of the school!_" Naruto cringed.

Craaap. Naruto suddenly remembered the reason he'd gotten Hinata to get away from the school so quickly. His latest prank had involved him stealing Rae's orange book (seeing how nowadays she read nothing but the red one) and reading it for inspiration, and a damned curiosity of why she wouldn't let him read it.

He couldn't stop once he started, and Iruka had eventually seen the boy with his nose in a certain orange book and a wide, goofy grin on his face. There had been major consequences, and in retaliation the next day, Naruto had then written the entire contents of a very... _awkward_ page all over the walls of the school before class ended for the day.

Then he'd grabbed Hinata and high-tailed it out of there. How Iruka had managed to inform Rae before he'd gotten to Ichiraku's was beyond him...

"Naruto," Rae growled out. "Do you realize how _perverted_ page 132 is? You've traumatized an entire _school _of _children _and pissed off every single adult that went to pick them up!" Naruto grinned sheepishly, then blinked.

"How'd you know what page I put up?" He asked curiously. Rae flushed, then quietly set him down before looking at him with her hands on her hips and a stern expression.

"Naruto..." She scowled and rubbed the back of her ear. "What am I going to do with you?" Naruto blinked innocently.

"Buy me ramen?" Rae huffed.

"Nice try. Now wake up Hinata so she can go and I can yell at you some more." Naruto winced, then hmmed as an idea came to him. The woman always said weird things when he would hang out with Hinata...

"I can't, Rae-chan!" He suddenly exclaimed, eyes wide. "I was treating Hinata to ramen, just me and her! She's my _special_ friend you know!" Naruto added seriously, nodding at the dark-haired woman's stunned look.

"Eep!" Hinata had apparently woken up sometime during Rae's initial scolding, and had also heard Naruto's 'special friend' comment.

She fainted again, this time with a bright red blush on her face.

Rae sighed, her anger dissipating rapidly. _Still_, she had to inwardly admit, _that was one hell of a prank._ Before coming up to Naruto, Rae had spent at least five minutes snickering under her breath as she imagined the looks on everyone's faces when they found the writing.

Not that she'd ever let him _quite_ get away with it... And she was still pretty pissed about him reading her book.

"Now look what you've done." Rae said out loud, rubbing her ear again. She hmmed and picked up Hinata, walking back to Ichiraku's. "Come on, let's get her some food." Naruto nodded and sat on the stool, propping up Hinata when Rae placed her next to him, then saying as an afterthought "Oh, and no ramen for you, Naruto. You can sit and watch Hinata eat when she wakes up."

"WHAT?" Hinata began to stir, murmuring under her breath. She took one look at Naruto's arm around her and her face turned bright red again. Rae idly thought that so much blushing would certainly lead to health problems in the future.

"N-N-Naruto-k-kun?" Hinata stuttered out, sitting up rapidly and putting a hand on her forehead. Rae pushed a bowl of ramen in front of her.

"Here, Hinata." She said. "You fainted. Naruto was just making sure you wouldn't fall again." Hinata nodded in understanding, the blush still prominent.

"Th-Thank you, Naruto-kun..." She said shyly, picking up her chopsticks. Rae walked towards the back, but then suddenly paused just inside and listened.

"N-Naruto-kun, aren't you hungry?"

"Mmmm..."

"W-What's wrong?"

"... I played a prank and Rae-chan got really mad at me. She said it was really _perverted_."

"Oh..." Rae could imagine the blush on Hinata's face if she knew what perverted meant—though she probably didn't. "You... You can have s-some of my ramen." Rae smirked as the slight sound of a bowl scraping the counter reached her ears, picturing Hinata pushing her bowl to the sulking blonde.

"Really? You're the greatest, Hinata-chan!" Rae counted to three and walked out, a stormy look on her face.

"What's going on here?" She snapped, making Hinata pale considerably and Naruto freeze mid-bite. She then pulled out a bowl from behind her back and placed it in front of the trembling Hinata with a smirk on her face. "It's rude to eat in front of a lady that doesn't have food, Naruto." She scolded lightly. "And you're not off the hook! This moment was just too adorable to pass." Rae then waved a hand and walked in the back.

She tried to remember why the scenario seemed so familiar as she mentally stored away the picture of Naruto and Hinata gaping at her, eyes wide and mouths dropped. Rae then pulled out her book and thought about what she'd do when Naruto came up with his Oiroke no Jutsu... She grinned, terrifying Teuchi as a wicked look came in her eyes.

She almost couldn't wait.

* * *

Rae walked down the streets, again attempting to read her Icha Icha and walk at the same time. So far she'd been successful, but-

_Whoops!_ Rae's subconscious registered a pole ahead and she gracefully stepped around it, splitting her concentration on Nao's dilemma and the wall ahead...

**Thud.**

Rae groaned and slid to the floor, rubbing her forehead with one hand while feeling around for her book. "Damn walls." She growled under her breath, giving her head one last rub. "Being there. Not moving."

"It's a wonder Naruto has any common logic at all." Rae scowled even harder at the voice, looking up and blinking stars from her eyes.

"... Iruka." She finally said. Iruka waved a familiar book in her face as she stood, and she took it sheepishly.

"Glad to see you don't have a concussion." Iruka said pleasantly, chuckling under his breath. "With the wall comment I was beginning to worry." He blinked suddenly. "Don't you have work today?" Rae shoved the book in her pocket and hmmphed.

"Teuchi-san decided to close up for the week." She said. "Something about spending time with Ayame." When Rae had first met the man's daughter she'd honestly thought that something was amiss seeing the girl work at a dango stall a few blocks away. But she'd shrugged and blamed it on her bad memory. Things like that tended to happen more often these days.

Must be the wall crashes.

"Wait... what did you mean about _Naruto's_ logic?" Rae suddenly asked incredulously. "I'm the one who said something... stupid." Iruka grinned.

"Rae-san, don't tell me you honestly don't know what effect you've had on Naruto." He said, half-joking and half-serious. When Rae only blinked he stared at her incredulously. "Rae-san," He said patiently. "How long have you known Naruto?" Rae hmmed.

"Since he was eight." She replied. "So it's almost been... four years. Why?" Iruka shook his head slowly.

"And I'm guessing you and the Hokage were the only ones to take care of the boy, you being the only one to spend time with him?" Rae shrugged.

"He lived with me before the Hokage gave him his apartment." She said honestly. "I'd go to work and he'd do whatever. Then I'd come home and shove vegetables into his scrawny stomach. I almost miss it." She added thoughtfully. Iruka hmmed.

"So you're practically his family, Rae-san." He said sternly. "He looks up to you like a mother. Kami knows he has your habits."

"A mother?" Rae flinched in disbelief. "But that's not-"

"Rae-san." Iruka cut her off. "You feed the boy. You teach him to fight. You scold him for doing something wrong (though not nearly enough). You call him in sick at the academy. You told him everything he knows about making friends and picking fights. Mizuki once asked Naruto what to do if an enemy was charging at him with a fist raised, and Naruto's answer was to 'not be there'. Academy taijutsu standards say that you need to _be there_, fist raised and in a defensive position. When I said that, Naruto stood and firmly told me that it was wrong _because you said so_."

Rae had gone deathly pale, still as a statue as she realized the truth behind his words.

"If Naruto gets irritated, he _scowls _and rubs his ear in that habit you have. He answers something he's not interested in with a 'Hm.' He's got his nose in a little green and yellow book when he walks from the academy to the training grounds for the day. When he ran into a pole once, I'd asked him why he would try to walk and read at the same time." Iruka shook his head slowly. "And he told me he _would_ learn it, because you were learning it and he was going to learn it too. 'Believe it!'" Iruka imitated Naruto's exclamation, holding something imaginary in the air. Rae felt sick to her stomach as she recognized her own 'believe it' pose from when she'd first declared that she would learn how to walk and read.

"And another odd part?" Iruka said curiously, fixing the dark-haired with a hard stare. "There's a little girl in his class, Haruno Sakura. He walked right up to her two months in class and asks her if she wanted to hang out with him. I think he thought she was pretty." Iruka chuckled then, shaking his head. "And when she turned up her nose at him he was hurt all day. I came up to him after class and asked if he was alright, and he said that he guessed Sakura just didn't need someone like him, so he didn't need her. He said that was how he made friends with _you_, so he said 'I guess I can't go camping with her' or some such nonsense. He never bugged her since."

"But... that's... _holy shit_." Rae breathed in English. "That- I- But he- _That's not supposed to happen_!" She cried, looking at Iruka with wide eyes. "But he bugs her his _entire life_! He's always trying to get a date with his precious _Sakura_ even while _Hinata_-" She cut herself off with a sharp intake of breath. "But I caught Hinata that day of training!" She snarled to herself, still speaking in English. "And he's been friends with her ever since, and Sakura-" She froze.

"... Rae-san?" Iruka asked carefully. "Are you alright?"

"That's not supposed to happen," Rae whispered. "It doesn't make_ sense_."

"Rae-san, I can't understand-"

Rae swore. Loudly. And still in English. Had Iruka been able to understand, he might have been blushing bright red at some of the creative use of words she used. As it were he only stared at her blankly and with a hint of concern as she yelled at the street, throwing her hands around and stomping in small circles. She then shoved a hand in her pocket and yanked out her notebook, nearly tearing it open and staring at the words. They were still there, her own writing telling of Naruto's relationship with Hinata and Sakura.

Now they were all lies.

"... It doesn't make sense." Rae finally said in Japanese, slowly lowering the notebook. She closed her eyes. "_Damn_."

"Rae-san, do you need-"

"Iruka." Rae said heavily. "I need... I need to be alone." Very slowly Rae put the notebook back in her pocket, slumping her shoulders and turning away. "... Sorry," She muttered. Iruka suddenly recalled the reason he'd gone looking for Rae after his meeting with the Hokage. When Sarutobi found that Iruka had been compromised, he'd calmly given Iruka a message.

"Hokage-sama wants to meet you." Iruka called after Rae's retreating figure. "He asked you to go to the tower tomorrow at four."

Rae paused without looking back before nodding once. She then walked away.

* * *

"Rae-chan! RAE-CHAN! Open up!" Rae groaned and rolled over on her bed, scowling at the door.

"It's always open, Naruto!" She shouted at the door. There was a sheepish silence before the door creaked open and a blonde head popped in, grinning.

"Oops." Naruto let himself in and closed the door behind him. "Forgot. Ya know, again." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, then frowned down at Rae who hadn't moved. "Iruka-sensei says you don't feel so good, nee-chan," He said seriously. "Are you sick or something?"

"... Hm." Rae looked away stubbornly. Naruto huffed.

"Well even if you don't wanna say, I gotta make sure you get better!" He declared. "I have to take care of you too, you know!" Something he said made Rae flinch and she curled in on herself. Naruto stared down at her before hesitantly reaching out a hand. "Rae-chan...?"

"I miss them, Naruto." She murmured, slowly uncurling and sitting up. Naruto blinked.

"Who?"

"My parents." Naruto slowly sat on the bed next to his sister figure, thinking hard. He remembered she had once told him that she'd had parents and a whole other life before coming to Konoha, and for the life of him he still couldn't figure out why she would leave that all behind.

Selfishly, he didn't want her to ever go back.

"I don't know if I can explain having parents," Rae muttered almost to herself. "You wouldn't know how much it hurts to miss them otherwise though. A parent is like the one person in your life that you look up to, strive to be like when you grow up, and then when you go out on your own you always have to go back to." Rae's eyes closed, reaching an arm around Naruto's shoulders and squeezing him to her side tightly. "It hurts losing them, hero." She said quietly. "And they probably think I'm dead by now. I never even told them good bye." She choked out.

Naruto only reached out and hugged Rae as she shivered violently, silent tears soaking his hair.

"I miss home." Rae finally said into Naruto's hair. "I miss California. I miss Mom and Dad and technology and _pizza_. Damn, I miss it all."

"But you won't leave, right?" Naruto suddenly said. "You won't go back and leave _me_?" When Rae didn't say anything, he held her a little tighter. "I don't want to lose you, nee-chan." Naruto said quickly, as though she'd go that second. "I don't want you to leave! Because you always say it'd be pretty much impossible to get back home, so you'd probably stay there forever and you couldn't ever come back!" He babbled. "And then I'd _lose_ you! And you couldn't teach me anything and I'd forget to eat those yucky vegetables every day and I wouldn't be able to come up with new pranks..." He trailed off, then ducked his head. "And sometimes I wonder if you're what it feels like to have a mom." He admitted quietly.

At first Naruto became worried when Rae didn't say anything and froze, heart sinking. Maybe he shouldn't have said any-

But then she slowly pulled him into her lap and nuzzled her head on his hair, much like she'd done all those years ago when they first met. He himself curled up and leaned against her shoulder.

The feeling of warmth and relief was the same as well. Suddenly Naruto looked up and looked Rae in the eye.

"You won't leave, right nee-chan?" He suddenly demanded, hugging her tighter. "You have to promise! I can't keep my promise otherwise! It'll be _your_ promise of a lifetime!" Rae stiffened around Naruto, then slowly swallowed and nodded into his hair.

"Alright, hero." She finally said. "I'll stay for you."

"And you won't go back on your word, right?" Naruto asked, but he knew it was a stupid question. Rae had never gone back on her word before.

"... Yeah. I promise."

* * *

Rae gazed at the Hokage Tower in front of her, hands shoved in pockets and scowl on her face. It was nearly four, but she still couldn't quite force herself to go in.

This. Was bad.

Rae had honestly been trying to fool herself this whole time. She'd honestly thought that she could stay away from the Hokage for... well, forever, never attracting attention to herself and never doing anything stupid enough to warrant such attention.

Then she'd met Uzumaki Naruto, and she'd shoved any such issues to the back of her mind.

And now she was standing in front of the tower, still not knowing how she was going to explain her existence to the Hokage. She'd stopped thinking of them as characters long ago, especially considering how close she was to Naruto. Somehow the little orange-loving brat had firmly anchored her to Konoha, chained by a promise that she couldn't help but decide to keep.

And she cursed herself for it still.

Rae finally snarled at herself and marched into the building, scowling in thought as she told the receptionist that she was here to see the Hokage.

Rae slowly concentrated on removing her scowl as she followed the woman through the halls, though from her experience with people they seemed uneasy when she gave them the blank stare left behind from her scowl. She wasn't exactly in the mood for a pleasant expression though, so she decided it would have to do.

Rae swallowed heavily as she stepped into the room, the receptionist closing the door behind her. An old, wizened head nodded at her and she bowed.

"Hokage-sama." She said past the knot in her throat, and with no small amount of respect; she remembered the old man ripping apart a certain snake man even in his age. This was someone she did not want to mess with.

"Kuroda Rae." The Hokage said with a measure of amusement. "A name that's been floating around our intelligence branch. You've frustrated its head to no end." Rae winced.

"My... apologies, Hokage-sama." She said, not quite looking at him. Was it hot in there, or was it just her? "I didn't think not being born in the Shinobi nations would be such a problem. But I couldn't exactly go up to someone and ask for such papers..." She trailed off, looking down and rubbing her arm. The Hokage hmmed.

"No," He said at length. "I suppose you couldn't. What makes it so odd is the fact that very, very few people born outside the Shinobi nations exist here at all. And the few that do never even attempt to come into a Hidden Village. Which brings me to another problem: How you got in here in the first place. The chunin guards ask for papers from traveling civilians at the gates." Rae began to sweat. Another thing she hadn't thought of.

"I... I..."

"I would choose your words carefully, Kuroda-san." The Hokage said, a somewhat dangerous undertone to his voice. "It would not do at all if you lied and we later called you out on it." Rae finally decided 'what the hell', looking up and staring the intimidating gramps in the eye.

"I don't know."

The Hokage blinked. Rae blinked back, then slowly settled into a scowl as she crossed her arms.

"I'm serious." She muttered. "I don't _know_. I was at home, in _my_ country, walking to my apartment from work. I was minding my own business when I saw that hole in the wall!" He raised an eyebrow.

"A hole, you say?"

"One big, blue hole in the wall. I... uh..." Rae blushed, rubbing her arm awkwardly. "I kind of... tripped... over a dog... and fell in it..." She turned even redder when the Hokage didn't say anything. "It's not like I meant to," She said defensively, scowling. "It just happened. And I hit my head on the wall and woke up in an alley about five blocks from Ichiraku's."

"Hmmm..." Rae nervously watched the Sandaime stare at her for a long moment.

"... That's a fairly strange story." She nodded.

"I know. And, to be frank, Hokage-sama, I really don't expect you to believe me. I really don't. But," She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I didn't want to be in Konoha. I didn't want to be in any Shinobi nation. I didn't want anything to do with a bunch of ninja. I _especially_ didn't want anything to do with Uzumaki Naruto." The Hokage blinked at her.

"Do you not understand the extent of you relationship with the boy?" He asked incredulously. Rae winced and nodded.

"Iruka-san told me. I didn't quite realize how it had gotten until then. I mean," She hesitated. "I knew I was caring for Naruto when I'd told myself years ago I wouldn't even go near him, but I... he just... I mean-"

"How exactly did you meet Naruto?" Sarutobi asked gently. Rae breathed out a long sigh.

"... It was maybe a day or so after I'd gotten here." She started. "I just got past the stage of convincing myself that as long as I was crazy—I mean, you know, how would anyone feel after ending up in an entirely different country without meaning to?—and I realized that I didn't have any local money. Or food. Just... anything." Rae shifted uncomfortably under the Hokage's stare. "So I went from food stall to food stall and eventually got a job at Ichiraku's. Teuchi-san gave me pay for a month in advance so I could buy some stuff. I had decided to stay in the alley I found myself in until I got myself an apartment. I went there after work and was going to sleep when a little blonde kid hid in there from two civilians chasing him."

"Naruto?"

"The one and only." Rae smirked slightly. "Crazy kid. I was literally just telling myself my situation couldn't get more complicated when he told me he'd been kicked out of the orphanage and didn't have a home. He was shivering, so I gave him my coat. He stayed with me all night." Rae looked somewhere past the Hokage. "I tried to ditch him the next morning, but then he started following me around and asked me to be his friend. That's a big deal for me; being friends is kind of like a moral code that I take fairly seriously. One I knew I would follow if I agreed. And then he looked at me with those damned puppy eyes." She scowled. "And I'm a sucker for animals, damn it all. So when I got an apartment, I let him stay in it. I bought him food and clothes and eventually decided I would try to make his life a little better."

"And you trained him?" The Sandaime asked. Rae nodded.

"I taught him my old style I was once learning in. On his ninth birthday we were attacked by a couple of drunks, the same from the night I met Naruto, apparently. They backed me and Naruto in a corner and I knocked them unconscious." Rae suddenly winced. "I once promised myself when I was sixteen that I wouldn't fight anymore, too. I'm pretty sure I didn't kill them, but..." She trailed off and coughed. "And for his birthday present he asked me to teach him. It's kind of a problem with his taijutsu, though." She added sheepishly. "But I don't think he understands the academy taijutsu anyway, and he's pretty good with martial arts. When he got his own apartment he still came by the ramen stand and we would hang out at the park a lot. I didn't realize I'd have such an effect, though..." Rae suddenly murmured, looking away. "It's not right."

"Not right?"

"It's not how it should _be_." Rae looked rather helpless for a moment. "Hokage-sama, he takes every little thing I say to heart." She looked at the man desperately. "He copies my habits and repeats what I say to the entire world. He told me I was like a _mother_ to him, and the first thing I told myself when I was in Konoha was that I didn't want _anything_ to do with him. It's not that I hated him for being a jinchuuriki," She said quickly. "It's that he has such a complicated life that me getting involved in it seemed like the most idiotic idea for someone that would rather live a quiet life in a quiet city for the rest of her days. And I've completely _changed_ how it's supposed to be!" Rae shivered violently, blanching at the thought. "It's all _wrong_." The Hokage looked at Rae sharply.

"How would you know how it was supposed to be in the first place?" He rumbled, making Rae stiffen and pale. "How did you know about Naruto if you hadn't even been in the Shinobi nations before? I believe you about not being from the nations," He added. "Mainly because you act with foreign customs and a different language. Yet what doesn't make sense is you appearing in Konoha and knowing everything that had happened in the past eight years of it."

"..." Rae didn't quite move, realizing that she had just dug herself into a hole that was at least ten miles deep and twice as wide. In her head she was swearing. Violently. Even worse than her realizing her impact on Naruto's life.

This. Was even worse.

"... Damn." She said at long last. "I have absolutely no explanation that will make any scrap of sense."

"You mean to say one that you expect will be outright rejected, as opposed to your previous story of how you came to be in Konoha?" Sarutobi asked with an arched eyebrow. Rae swallowed thickly and nodded. "A problem, but if you are truly telling the truth, there is a way to prove it." Rae looked up hopefully, but then a niggling thought ran across her mind and she grimaced.

"Yamanaka." She suddenly said. The Hokage's eyebrows both raised as he nodded.

"Their clan technique is especially useful for interrogation, but difficult unless the interrogated gives in fully. But," The Hokage began writing something on a piece of paper. "I'm beginning to suspect you know far more than what you are showing, Kuroda-san." Sarutobi made a signal with his hand and a odd canine-like masked ANBU seemed to materialize in front of the Hokage, making Rae jump. "Bring this to Yamanaka Inoichi." He informed him, and the ANBU nodded before vanishing again.

Rae stared blankly at the spot the ninja had vanished before shaking herself when she realized the Hokage had spoken. "Er... what?" She said intelligently. The Hokage hmmed.

"If you are truly going to want to prove your story," He said seriously. "Then you will come here tomorrow morning at ten o' clock. I have asked Inoichi-san to come then, and we will do a fairly quick scan of your memories should you still be agreeable." When Rae grimaced he narrowed his eyes. "It's either the Yamanaka or Morino Ibiki." Rae ran the name through her memory a few times.

_Isn't he the... _An image of a heavily scarred man taking off his bandanna to reveal several screw scars in his head flashed through her mind. Morino Ibiki, top interrogator. Known for his sadism, in the words of someone she couldn't quite remember.

… _Oh._

Rae turned white as a sheet.

"I-I'll take the Yamanaka..." She choked out. Sarutobi nodded.

"Then tomorrow, ten o' clock. And I do hope you aren't late." He said mildly, but Rae could practically feel the threat under his words.

She resolved to be at least ten minutes early to the tower.

* * *

"Good morning, my name is Yamanaka Inoichi." Rae looked up from her seat, metal manacles strapping her wrists to the chair's arms, and she couldn't help but think that this was _not_ a good morning. The blonde-haired man raised an eyebrow at Rae's grimace. "Something on your mind?" Rae scowled up at him.

"I'm not feeling the 'good morning'." She grumbled, shifting uneasily in the chair. She'd been brought into a small room with no windows and a bolted, metal door. The walls were white brick and just _screaming_ 'prisoner'.

It was only made worse by Inoichi chuckling above her.

"Only to be expected." He said easily. "Not many civilians make it into this room. Though you _technically_ aren't a civilian, not having a status at all actually, we haven't had a non-ninja nonetheless since the Third Shinobi War." Rae winced.

_Damn._

"Well, shall we begin?" Inoichi said cheerfully, then adopted a rather stern expression. "Unless you want to tell me something ahead of time." Rae thought as hard as she could.

"Ummm... I can't think of anything. I'd ask if it would hurt, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to know." Inoichi shrugged, placing a palm on Rae's forehead.

"We're never sure."

Then Rae's vision went dark as a stabbing pain erupted behind her eyes.

* * *

"_Rae-chaaan~!"_

… _What?_

"_Oi, Rae-chan!"_

… _Who...?_

"_Rae-chan! Wake up!" Rae groggily pulled herself to consciousness, then blinked and looked up. She made a slight squeak and pulled a blanket higher over herself as a face appeared above hers, freckles wrinkled in a disapproving frown._

"_... Paige?" Rae asked curiously, slowly lowering the blanket. "What are you doing here?" Paige rolled her eyes and poked Rae in the forehead._

"_You slept the night at my house, baka." She replied. "We fell asleep watching a Naruto marathon, remember? They were showing the first season!" Rae blushed slightly and rubbed her arm as she sat up, the blanket falling from her to the floor._

"_Oh... right. Sorry. Forgot." Suddenly she gave a start. "Oh! School!" She made a tumble off the couch, landing on her arm and whimpering. "Ow..."_

"_It's Saturday, Rae." Paige said dryly, standing above her friend with her hands on her hips. "I don't suppose you remember why you slept over in the first place?" Rae looked down sheepishly._

"_Um..."_

"_My birthday!" Paige burst out, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm turning fourteen today, baka!" Rae winced._

"_Why do you always call me that...?" She whimpered, then blinked. "Oh, wait. Oh yeah!" Rae nodded eagerly and stood, rubbing her arm and looking at her friend eagerly. "I brought you a birthday present too! But," Rae giggled as she wagged a finger at Paige. "You gotta promise me something!" Paige giggled in anticipation._

"_Anything, Rae-chan!" She chirped, then smirked. "And if it's you asking that I won't treat you like a baby now that I'm a year older than you... forget it." Rae shook her head, beaming at the girl._

"_Not that, you treat me like a baby anyway." Rae sighed and looked down in remembrance. "But I want you to promise me that even though you're going into high school this year... Will you promise to still be my friend?" Paige rolled her eyes and flicked Rae on the forehead._

"_Baka Rae-chan." She muttered. "You're still so insecure. Of course I promise! Believe it!" Rae smiled._

"_Thanks." Paige sighed._

"_I don't know why I put up with you though," She said suddenly. "I mean, you're practically a Hinata yourself! You can barely look at people, you only smile without talking at those you can look at, and you _still _can't bring yourself to hit people in martial arts! And me? I think I'm more like Sasuke-kun." Paige giggled at the thought. "He's so strong and cool and smart and cute..."_

"_And I think his hair kind of looks like a duck butt." Rae added eagerly. Paige looked at her oddly and sighed again._

"_You're so weird, Rae-chan." She said matter-of-factly. "If you didn't like Naruto as much as I did, I wouldn't know how I even knew you." Rae only smiled as Paige clapped her hands together. "But what about my present!" She suddenly demanded. "You better have gotten something good this year!"_

"_Hold on, I'll go get it."_

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

… _Ow... My head..._

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

… _Damn. Is that a heart monitor...?_

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

Rae groaned and slowly brought up a hand to the light, squeezing her eyes against the splitting headache. "Daaamn," She whimpered. "Make the stupid noise stooop."

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

"I'll kill something, I swear."

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

"I mean it! I _will_ do something stupid! I feel great judgment impairment upon my aching head!"

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

Rae sucked in a deep breath, holding in the air until she heard the beeps slow down. They began to set off alarms then and she gasped out when a pair of hands forced her mouth open and pushed on her chest.

**BeepBeepBeepBeep**

"Damn you," Rae snarled at the blurry figure above her, her breathing slowly returning to normal. "I almost got that stupid noise to stop! Now it's louder than ever!"

**BeepBeepBeep- Click!**

Rae sighed in relief as the horrible sound that was making her head sting went away completely. "_Thank_ you." She muttered. "I think I was going crazy."

"I believe you entirely." Rae blinked again and focused on her vision, a blonde head of hair coming into view and she groaned looking away.

"Damn. The source of my pain."

"Sorry." But Inoichi seemed more amused than anything. His voice then grew more serious. "Sorry," He repeated, a bit more sincerely. "The technique doesn't usually have that effect on people. It's a technique that draws partly on the user's chakra in the brain as well as the brain waves and reads out the imprints from the memory cells."

"... Hm." Rae struggled to understand. "Sooo... It didn't work?"

"It did work, but only partly." Rae hmmphed as she heard the confusion in his voice. "A memory is stored in the brain's chakra as well as its cells. What went wrong is that there isn't a shred of chakra in your entire body."

There was a long moment of silence as the man seemed to be waiting for an explanation.

"... Oh." Rae slowly closed her eyes; the light was still too bright. "I could have told you that."

"It's not _possible_ though," Inoichi said incredulously. "Every living thinghas chakra. Everything. No chakra equals no life."

"A fact that Kuroda-san has seemed to get by with little difficulty." Rae's eyes snapped open and she immediately took in her surroundings.

Huh. She was in the hospital. Weird. Rae was laying in a simple white bed with an IV (ugh) in her arm and a blank screen nearby. Rae figured it to be the heart monitor that Inoichi had turned off. There were no windows in the room, and a single door with a... bolt on it? Standing in the open doorway was the Hokage himself and another, somewhat younger man with a doctor's coat and a pouch strapped to his side.

_A medic-nin?_

"Good to see you awake, Kuroda-san." The Hokage said pleasantly, coming and standing next to the bed. He held up a hand when Rae tried to sit up. "Easy, you've been comatose for quite a bit. Ten days, to be exact." Rae's head spun. Ten days?

"Not to mention you've had half the staff in an uproar about your condition." The doctor behind the Hokage said. The Hokage nodded at the man.

"Kuroda-san, this is Dr. Takumi. He's been the head of your... case."

"Case?" Rae repeated, raising her eyebrows at the man before scowling. "You calling me a fruitloop?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Never mind." Rae coughed. "You were saying?" Here Takumi walked up to her, placing a hand on her forehead.

"To be frank, Kuroda-san." He began. "We don't know how you're even _alive_." Rae blinked.

"Why? Because of the chakra thing? I'm sure there's been others-"

"With damaged chakra, yes, but never before without at least parts of a tenketsu system and never, ever without the eight gates. Ever." The man stressed, staring hard at Rae. "Coupled with all those toxins in your respiratory system, we've all been standing around and wondering what's keeping your lungs running with the amount of toxin exposure it would require to get to such a level. One of the doctors even suggested that you weren't even _human_." Rae scowled.

"I am actually a quite healthy human, thank you." She growled. "I just didn't live in the most air-friendly world for the first eighteen years of my life. _Everyone_ is like me there, no chakra and toxins slowly killing off lung cells. And I'm _fine_." The doctor was still shaking his head when the Hokage cleared his throat.

"On another matter, Inoichi's test..." Rae immediately focused all her attention on the old man, mind running through possibilities of what Inoichi could have found. "... Says very few things."

…

…

… _What._

"So that _monster_ headache was for 'very few things'?" Rae could feel her eye twitching as she slowly sat up, the room spinning for a moment. She didn't particularly care at the moment. "Not to mention sleeping for _ten days_. And the only thing we learned was that _yes_, I'm just like everyone else from where I'm from?" Rae was practically snarling as she glared up at the ceiling. She was feeling rather grumpy at the moment. The Hokage coughed.

"I didn't say that, Kuroda-san. We didn't learn much, but what we _did_ learn was quite essential." When the Hokage nodded at him, Takumi bowed and left the room. Rae blinked as the Hokage looked at her seriously, Inoichi clearing his throat.

"As I said before, the jutsu didn't work exactly how it was supposed to." He began. "I did, in fact, find several snippets of memories, as I was supposed to, but only as you heard and saw them yourself. I could not find your actual thoughts in the memories. We're assuming that because of the lack of chakra the jutsu automatically draws alongside the brain waves, it sent your brain into a temporary coma when it pulled at something it wasn't supposed to."

"How about my _brain_." Rae muttered darkly, but was ignored as Inoichi continued.

"But the memories themselves were... strange." A confused look came in Inoichi's eye. "At first I was confused because half of the memories were from such odd perspectives... but then they began to play certain _scenes_." Rae seemed confused, so Inoichi said "Do you know what I was looking for?"

"No? You were looking for something?" Rae almost slapped herself for such a stupid question, but the blonde merely nodded.

"I was looking for any memory with the imprint of Konoha and Uzumaki Naruto in it."

Rae froze. _SHIT._ She could suddenly think of what Inoichi had meant by 'odd perspectives'. Most of her younger teen life had been filled with hours upon hours of watching the anime of Naruto, though she mostly read the manga. Inoichi had probably seen her watching episodes like movies, or some sort of visions...

"At one scene," Inoichi was saying in puzzlement. "There was a memory of Naruto running through the forest with a large scroll on his back, being chased by Umino Iruka and Mizuki."

"Based on Inoichi's description of the scroll," The Hokage added. "It looked to be a forbidden scroll from the Hokage library. But there have been no records from either Iruka or Mizuki about any such matter, but I haven't consulted either of them-"

"Don't!" Rae slapped a hand over her mouth when the two men turned to her. "I-I mean, Hokage-sama, that is, I, uh." Rae tripped over her words as she tried to gather her panic. If the Hokage mentioned it to Mizuki, then he probably wouldn't get Naruto to steal the Forbidden Scroll. Then Naruto wouldn't learn kage bunshin, or even graduate in the first place.

Which would be a _problem_.

"Care to explain, then?" The Hokage asked with a quirked eyebrow. Rae winced.

"You can't- I mean- _ARGH_." Rae rubbed her ear furiously. "It didn't happen yet!" She finally exclaimed. "And you can't change it, because that would- that would be _bad_." She emphasized, only half-aware she was babbling nonsense. "And if you _change_ it, then the whole damn _thing_ never happens, and-"

"Kuroda-san." Sarutobi cut in sternly, and Rae flushed as she realized how she was sounding. "Are you saying that it hasn't happened _yet_, but will in the future?"

"... Yes." Rae said weakly, shrinking in on herself. "It happens when Naruto doesn't graduate for the third time," She explained when neither man said anything. "Mizuki—that damned bastard was always having it in for Naruto—goes up to Naruto and tells him there's a way for him to pass even if he can't do the bunshin. He says as a test instead, Naruto needs to sneak into the Hokage Tower and steal the Forbidden Scrolls and train with the skills in a certain place in the forest." The two men seemed alarmed, but Rae pressed on. "Mizuki then goes up to Iruka and tells him that Naruto stole the Forbidden Scroll, and Iruka freaks and goes to find him. He finds him and Naruto... Dammit, hold up." Rae felt along her pockets, then a panicked look spread across her face. "Where's my notebook?" She demanded, looking around wildly. She eventually glanced to the table beside her to see all possessions she had on her (Rae blushed when she saw her Icha Icha Violence, uncovered), snatching up her notebook and flipping through the pages.

"A-HA!" Rae smirked in triumph, pointing to a page before continuing. "Naruto and Iruka are ambushed when Iruka hears what Mizuki said to Naruto. Mizuki then tells Naruto how he tricked him, and..." Rae trailed off, looking somewhat sad. "Mizuki then tells Naruto about the Kyuubi, but tells him that Naruto _was_ the Kyuubi."

"..."

"..."

"... It turns out alright in the end, though!" Rae slapped her notebook shut, looking up at the silent Hokage. "Because Naruto learns the kage bunshin and earns his genin rank, and Mizuki gets beat up and then Naruto knows about the Kyuubi! Which is crucial! Belie-!" Rae then blanched and slapped a hand over her mouth, but the other two were still staring at her, too lost in their thoughts to notice.

"... So you're saying, Kuroda-san," The Hokage said at length. "That you saw the future."

"Yes." Rae finally said, shaking her head as she recovered from her almost slip. Another technical truth. She'd seen _their _future, at the very least. Just in story form. The Hokage hmmed, then nodded at Inoichi. The blonde bowed and walked out the door, leaving the Hokage and Rae alone.

"It's actually possible," He said at length. "There are various stories of wandering nomads in old times that would have visions of events happening in a different city. Usually they tended to stay away from those cities, however," Sarutobi added thoughtfully. "Because they didn't wish to change the future at all."

"... But that's the problem, Hokage-sama." Rae whispered. "That's why I wanted to stay away from Naruto. The whole thing was focused on _him_. And it's already showing differences." She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself. "Me just being around him has already changed a bunch of little things, like a one degree angle. But then what'll happen eventually?" She asked rhetorically. "Instead of tricking him to steal the scroll, Mizuki will just lead him out in the woods and slit Naruto's throat?" She turned green at the thought, trembling. The Hokage hmmed.

"An understandable situation." He said. "While that doesn't quite solve the question of how you got in Konoha, but we can deal with that later. In the meantime, we need to see if these... visions are accurate." Rae shook her head.

"But it's all one timeline." She said. "All of it. Meaning that whatever I saw happened _then_, there's the possibility of it changing into something completely different."

"I see." The Hokage folded his hands behind his back. "We shall have to find out in two weeks then. Naruto's genin exam is then, and Mizuki's apparent treachery." He waved a hand at her protest. "You said it would turn out fine, but as a precaution I will have two ANBU follow the boy the entirety of the day with direct orders not to interfere unless Iruka's or Naruto's lives are in immediate danger." Rae considered it before nodding.

"I understand, Hokage-sama." The Hokage nodded back.

"Good, now there's a visitor that's been waiting to see you for quite some time." As if on cue, the door slammed open and a blonde pinball sped into the room, tackling Rae back onto the bed.

"RAE-CHAAAN!"

"Oof, Naruto..." Rae groaned at the weight on her as she attempted to sit up.

"Now, now, Naruto..." The Hokage said gently. "I believe Kuroda-san is still hurt." Rae blinked in absolute surprise when Naruto turned and _glared_ at the Hokage.

"And it's all your fault, Oji-san!" He yelled, shaking his fist at the Hokage. "You and that mullet-teme did something to nee-chan and she wouldn't wake up! I thought she was gonna sleep _forever_!" Naruto choked on the last word, burying his face in Rae's shoulder and trembling. Rae's eyes softened and she wrapped her arms around him.

"Sorry, otouto..." She murmured, nuzzling his spiky hair. "It was my fault too. Don't blame the Hokage or Inoichi-san. It's okay." Naruto just held on tighter. "Hey," Rae said, leaning back and looking down sternly at Naruto. "I don't go back on my word, right? And I promised." She reminded him. Naruto sniffled and nodded, then beamed up at Rae.

"That's right!" He chirped, giving Rae one last hug before sitting back in her lap and looking at the Hokage. "Sorry, Oji-san!" He said, grinning sheepishly. "I shouldn't have doubted you! You're my friend too, after all!" Rae ruffled Naruto's hair as the Hokage chuckled.

"That's quite alright, Naruto-kun." He said. "Your nee-chan gave us all quite a scare. But she'll need to be in the hospital for a little longer..."

"Eh, why?" Rae and Naruto yelped simultaneously, affronted looks on both faces. Rae scowled heavily. "I'm _fine_," She growled out. "Toxins aren't going anywhere, and I've lived without chakra for my entire life. I'm in the same fan-freaking-tastic condition that I've been in my entire life. Crappy after-headache aside." She added as Naruto twisted to look at her with round eyes.

"You don't have _chakra_?" He asked incredulously. Rae shrugged.

"Nope." Suddenly she frowned. "What does that mean around here, anyway? I've never really thought about it." Sarutobi hmmed.

"Well, for one you are completely immune to any genjutsu." He said. "Genjutsu are a shinobi taking advantage of the chakra flow in the brain, which would be ineffective against you, of course." He said mildly. "Of course, you can't use any jutsu at all... and your physical strength is reduced to only twenty percent of those with a normal chakra flow through their muscles." Rae's eyes widened at the last one.

"But... _What_?" She blinked incredulously. "I've never... I mean... Wait," She rubbed her ear irritably. "You're talking about that freaky ninja strength, aren't you? The people-that-train-their-ass-off kind."

"Not necessarily." The Hokage said in bemusement. "It means you'd have to exercise as much as a high chunin-level ninja to reach genin-level speed and strength." Rae sighed and crossed her arms.

"Which I'm not exactly motivated for, so I think I'll stick to my ramen-serving days." She muttered. "I think I'll be perfectly happy doing such if I survive the next three years at the very least. I want to live to twenty-five, dammit!" Naruto looked at her oddly.

"What are you talking about, Rae-chan?"

"Nothing, hero. Nothing." The Hokage finally cleared his throat.

"Well, it's good to see you two." He said, turning towards the door. "The doctors want to watch your health for a few more days, Kuroda-san, and then they'll... most likely release you. Good luck on your exam, Naruto-kun." With that the Hokage left. Naruto blinked, then his eyes widened.

"Ah, right! I still have the exam!" He exclaimed. "I gotta train!" Rae scowled heavily.

"What the hell did he mean by _most likely_?"

* * *

Yes, I know for a fact that people around here don't have chakra. Because we all _know_ that every good Narutard has attempted at least a jutsu or two, and so far they've been unsuccessful. Not that I, ya know, tried it myself or anything... *coughcoughDIDN'TWORKcough*

And I kept trying to make a scene that showed exactly what Inoichi was seeing, but they all turned out into some tard-like things that kept running off on tangents and boring things in general and BLAH. So I will say this now: HE SAW A CLUSTER OF SCENES FROM DIFFERENT EPISODES. None long enough to really see what was going on, but enough to really send him into a state of WTF.

And flashback! Oh, look at that! Rae's childhood was... boring. :| Yes, I may hint at some kind of life-changing event, but before you even try to guess... No, the friend mentioned in the flashback isn't dead. I'm not THAT unoriginal. -_-;; Nor is she crippled for life, vanished into the Naruto world herself, or even on drugs. Currently Paige is finishing college with her hot boyfriend and idly thinking about her old best friend that disappeared in the middle of Tokyo four years ago. She is now mildly worried before realizing she has a test on Monday and is walking away.

Wow, that was just as boring. But the point is you'll have to think a bit differently.

And hey, there were a lot of answers to my questions! I looked it up and yes, Kakashi seems to visit the memorial stone and makes himself late that way. Or at least it's hinted just before the Sandaime's funeral. Not sure if he does it _every_ morning, but so many people seem to think so... Eh, fine. He's emotionally unstable and wallows _every single morning_ in grief as he stares at a rock with his dead friends' names on it. Unhealthy, but whatever. And I personally didn't go and look up what was wrong with Lee's chakra in the manga, but most people say it was underdeveloped chakra coils. This is very uncomplicated and will now stick throughout the entire story, canon or not.

There weren't that many answers to the third, but the ones I got were just plain AWESOME. But one was just plain scary. Leonardo, I only have one question for you: HAVE YOU TRULY SEEN THE FUTURE? :OOO Regardless of how you managed to ask for EXACTLY what I've been planning since the beginning of this story, you will get your wishes! Both of them! You have no wishes left. -3- But seriously, that scared me badly. As for the other answers, I'll do my best. :D I'm definitely gonna tweak a bit with Naruto's fighting style (more than the martial arts thing anyway) and romance in this fic will be developed quiet slowly. As for the desk makeout session request (this made me say WHAT.) ... Yeah, I actually think I can fit one in somewhere. I can't guarantee it'll be that amazing, but you perverts can imagine all the details that I'd be far too embarrassed to write. ;P

Long author's note, yo. The chapter was long enough, but JEEZ. But we finally get to the genin days next chapter~! ARE YOU ALL AS EXCITED AS ME? Ha, yeah right. :D And another major thanks to Sousie, because Sousie is awesome and amazing and excellent in the lands of proof-reading far too many pages to count!

Peace out.

PS: Have you ever tried walking while listening to the song 'I Gotta Feeling' on your mp3? There are some parts where the music literally swirls in your head and makes me dizzy. Is that normal? Oh well.


	7. Graduation

Hey! More reviewers~! xD I can't tell you how awesome it is that the reviews just keep climbing! I guess you're all excited as me to get to the genin days... Sorry for the short chapter, but ten thousand words is pretty bad for me. It just doesn't seem right or something. So it was kind of cop-out, because technically we haven't gotten to the good part like I said. My bad. :x

But I'll update soon, so don't worry too much about it? :D PLEASEDON'TKILLME.

Enjoy. And happy birthday, Naruto~! xDDD

* * *

Naruto crouched before the two men, mind slowly going over and repeating what Mizuki had just said to him. That morning he'd been fairly confident that he would make that bunshin work; Rae didn't want to wear a pink dress, after all! And when he failed Mizuki coming up to him and offering an alternative was like a gift from Kami himself.

Until Iruka and Mizuki had caught him, and then Mizuki had revealed the reason Konoha had always hated him.

_It's not true. It can't be._ But somewhere in his mind Naruto also thought about how people would treat him, with cold eyes and harsh words and fierce blows.

"Iruka is the same!" Mizuki howled in triumph, swinging a giant shuriken over his arm. "He actually hates you!" Naruto didn't notice, every cruel word going over in his mind, every glare from each and every person- "Nobody will ever accept you!" That made Naruto stop short.

_But... wasn't there-_

"That was the scroll used to seal you!" Mizuki swung his arm around, metal flying towards the still-frozen Naruto-

"_Naruto!_"

**Thunk!**

Naruto stared with wide eyes at the chunin standing over him, blood spilling from his mouth and breathing heavily. The shuriken lodged itself in Iruka's back as he crouched over Naruto.

"I was... once like you," Iruka gasped out, looking directly at Naruto. "My parents... after they died... I wanted acknowledgement too. But you..." He grimaced, then offered a weak smile to Naruto. "You found acknowledgement, Naruto. You found Rae-san, and you... you found me." He turned his head to the side and coughed out blood. "And I'm so... so proud of you. Not of Kyuubi, but of Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's future Hokage!" Iruka grinned proudly. "Don't make Rae go back on her word, Naruto." He said hoarsely. "She always believed in you too."

"And don't get me started on that little demon wench!" Mizuki snarled, twirling the second shuriken over his arm. "I don't know where the hell she came from, but only those from hell itself can stand to be near the Kyuubi brat like that!" He snarled. "Both she and you should just go to hell!" He crowed, aiming the shuriken at Naruto.

Something snapped in Naruto.

Naruto rolled out from underneath Iruka, dropping the scroll in his previous position and standing in front of Iruka.

"Naruto!" Iruka choked out, eyes wide. "What the hell are you doing? Run!"

"Rae-chan always called me a hero, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto snapped back at him. "I'd be making her go back on her word if I left you with this... this _bastard_! And Rae-chan _never_ goes back on her word! And neither will I!" Naruto snarled as he looked up at Mizuki. "If you touch Iruka-sensei, I'll kill you myself!" Mizuki snarled back.

"Then die, damn you!" He let loose the shuriken directly towards Naruto, who only held up his fists and concentrated.

Deflect to side. The first thing Rae had pounded in his head, and the first thing she'd said to do if you couldn't get away. Naruto's eyes narrowed and he let out a cry as he gave a roundhouse kick just before the shuriken reached him, deflecting the flying metal by only an inch. It sailed past him harmlessly, burying itself in a tree behind him.

Mizuki stared with wide eyes as Naruto then put his hands in a certain seal.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

* * *

Rae gaped openly as the scene on the crystal ball faded from Naruto's tackling of Iruka, hitai-ate on his forehead and very broken Mizuki on the side.

"That... was different." Rae finally said, slouching as she stared with wide eyes at the Hokage. He raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

"Naruto... he ran away." Rae shook her head. "He was so scared when he heard about Kyuubi, and he just... couldn't handle it. Iruka and Mizuki then chased after him, and Iruka _then_ said something that made Naruto protect him after being cornered by Mizuki. But that move with the shuriken... And all those ways he hit Mizuki." Rae suddenly chuckled under her breath. "He's been modifying my teachings, coming up with new moves that _technically_ are the same style, but they're moves meant for people with a bit more strength and flexibility, and just that more useful. He's a little genius like that." The Hokage hmmed.

"Then I suppose this whole thing means you were telling the truth." He said after a bit. "The details of the encounter were off, but the initial happening was still there. Though I'm a bit surprised." He said, leaning back. "Most people wouldn't let something so traumatizing happen to someone they care about, especially when it could have gone wrong in so many places." Rae hesitated, nodding in agreement.

"A part of me still wants to lock him up in a box and tell him no more ninja." She said, an ironic smirk on her lips. "But there's so much shit coming, not just for him, but for Konoha. There's so many people he needs to save, so many things he needs to learn on his own." Rae fingered the edge of her jacket. "I almost went to pick him up at the academy instead of coming here." She said after a pause. "I really didn't care if you believed me. I just want him to be safe and happy." Her eyes closed. "But he's going to be Hokage someday. I can't take that away from the world."

Sarutobi smiled.

"Then I suppose you could wait here for Iruka to come and give his report." He said mildly. "No doubt Naruto will come. It should be any..."

A knock sounded at the door, and Sarutobi exchanged a glance with Rae before raising his voice. "Enter." Rae stood to the side as Iruka opened the door, Naruto bounding in behind him and grinning like the sun. They both stared incredulously at Rae.

"... Rae-chan, what are you doing here?" Naruto finally asked in surprise. Rae smirked, jabbing a thumb behind her to the crystal ball still sitting out.

"Watching the show." She said mildly. Naruto flinched.

"You... you knew?" He asked quietly. "I mean... I always thought..."

"That because I wasn't from here I wouldn't know about the Kyuubi?" Rae asked quietly. Naruto nodded and she walked forward, pulling him in a hug. "Stupid little otouto." She murmured. "I've always known. I just didn't care. Just like Iruka-san and Hokage-sama." Naruto beamed up at Rae, then grinned widely.

"Hey, Rae-chan!" He said suddenly. "Notice anything different about me? Huh?" Rae hmmed, tapping her chin in thought.

"Hmmm... Did you get a new haircut?" Naruto's expression fell into a scowl.

"RAE-CHAN!" He yelled, rubbing the back of his ear. Rae hadn't noticed he'd done that before, but it was now rather obvious. "I'm a ninja now!" He said in excitement, pointing at his hitai-ate. "I really did it! Now you don't have to wear a pink dress for a year!"

Rae smirked. "Then I guess you know the answer to my question, eh hero?" She asked lightly. Naruto nodded seriously.

"You get strong when you protect your precious people!" He said solemnly, looking up at Rae. "That's what makes a ninja strong! When they protect a village of precious people!" Rae smiled, ruffling his hair.

"I knew you'd figure it out." She said. "Even if it took me calling you 'hero' all the damn time. You're rather slow sometimes."

"Oi!" Naruto then reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "Neh, nee-chan. Close your eyes!" Rae blinked but shrugged and complied. Her eyebrows furrowed when she felt something being slipped on her head. "Okay, open them!"

Rae opened her eyes and reached up, blinking rapidly as she felt the round shapes and worn leather. "Is that...?"

"Yeah! They're my old goggles!" Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't need them anymore, but I don't want to get rid of them! So you can take care of them for me! Believe it!" Rae fingered the goggles gently.

"Ah, Naruto..." She grinned down at him. "Thanks. I'll make sure they stay safe." Behind the two, Iruka finished his account of the night's events. The Hokage nodded, and Iruka finally came up to the two, not batting an eye at Rae's new accessory.

"Come on," He said, ruffling Naruto's hair. "Naruto wanted to look for you before getting ramen, so he told Teuchi-san to make a new pot of miso ramen." He said to Rae.

"Let's go eat!" Naruto cheered, all but dragging Iruka out the door. Rae smirked and began to follow after.

"Ah, Kuroda-san." The Hokage called after Rae, making her pause in the doorway. "Come in tomorrow morning at ten. We have some things we need to discuss."

Rae nodded before Naruto snatched her arm, dragging her away and into the night.

* * *

"So did ya see how I kicked that bastard's ass?" Naruto asked in excitement, putting down his third bowl and looking at Rae. Rae smiled from the stool next to him, Iruka on Naruto's other side still eating.

"I did." She said; she'd payed extra attention to that part. "I noticed how you used that move you came up with on the shuriken. Did I ever mention you were a genius with martial arts?" Rae joked. "And you even remembered every last place on the human body I told you to hit!"

Iruka choked, and Naruto blinked and pat his back before turning back to Rae.

"Yeah!" Naruto grinned. "It was a lot easier when there was way more of me! The kage bunshin is _awesome_! Here!" Naruto's hands almost formed the seal before Rae pulled them apart.

"Let's... not do that in here." She said nervously. "I don't know if you have enough control over it to not create a small army again, and I'm sure Teuchi-san doesn't have _that_ much ramen."

Teuchi nodded. "I can barely feed one of you," He joked, though his face betrayed his confusion. Rae only shrugged.

"So I suppose you'll get a jounin instructor now?" She asked Naruto, looking at Iruka for confirmation. Iruka nodded.

"With Naruto's graduation, there's just enough students to make all the necessary three genin cells." He said cheerfully. Naruto looked excited.

"Really?" He asked. "Can I be on a team with Hinata-chan? Can I? Can I?" He looked pleadingly at Iruka, who only shrugged.

"That's up to the Hokage." He said. Naruto then turned his eyes on Rae, who cringed at the look.

"... What?"

"You're meeting with the Oji-san tomorrow." Naruto said seriously. "So can you ask him to put me in the same team as Hinata-chan?" Rae sighed, she was actually going to make sure he was with Sakura and Sasuke. The one in his class that Naruto seemed to like the least and the girl that didn't give a damn about him.

Poor little guy. She almost felt like she was betraying him.

"It's not up to me, hero." She said finally. "I don't know what I can do, so I wouldn't hold your breath. There's probably a system that Hokage-sama uses to divide teams." Iruka nodded.

"I can probably already guess who Naruto will be placed with," He said thoughtfully. "Based on that system. But it's a surprise." He added at Naruto's triumphant grin.

Naruto scowled.

"Well, whoever they are, I'll show them that I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto declared. "And I'm gonna be the greatest Hokage in the history of Konoha! Believe it!" Rae ruffled his hair.

"That'll do, hero." She said, leaning against the counter and closing her eyes. "That'll do."

* * *

Rae dressed quickly the next morning, fingering Naruto's old goggles before putting them on her forehead like he had worn them. She frowned momentarily in the mirror, but then shrugged. All the best anime characters wore them. They were pretty cool anyway.

The dark-haired woman walked to the Hokage tower, flipping through her notebook and reviewing what she planned to say to the Hokage. Truth be told, she was honestly thinking that she would simply tell him everything. She'd never been much of a planning person anyway.

Look where her first attempts got her. Rae crammed all the information like she had an exam, dodging around poles and people that gave her funny looks. She ignored them as she read up on Orochimaru's Hidden Village of Sound, Sasuke's eventual betrayal of the village, Akatsuki, and finally, Uchiha Madara's Moon Eye plan.

Which was a really big, really nasty can of worms that Rae knew she'd have to suck up and present to the Hokage in all its glory. Along with telling him about Orochimaru murdering him and running off. That was going to be real nasty.

But still. Rae's eyes darted up momentarily—she could afford to cheat—and she tiptoed past a group of tittering civilian women. One of whom made a louder, likely-meant-to-be-overheard comment about how she hoped that Rae was reading something better than the trash she usually had her nose in.

Just to mess with her, Rae turned and gave her a wide, it's-so-much-worse-than-you-think smirk she once gave her parents. The effect was the same in that it sent the lady rocking back on her heels, shaking her head in disapproving horror. When she turned and informed her little group of this new development, they all began sadly shaking their heads and started up their fussing, stealing glances at her every once in a while.

Rae almost giggled.

Finally reaching the tower, she nodded at the receptionist who immediately took her to the same room. Rae idly thought that she was getting almost as comfortable as Naruto around here.

"Ah, Kuroda-san." Rae bowed as the receptionist closed the door behind her.

"Hokage-sama." She said politely. The Hokage nodded.

"Sit down, Rae-san." He said, gesturing at the seat in front of his desk. "I believe we have much to talk about." Rae swallowed and nodded before taking the seat. There was a long, awkward silence before the Hokage coughed. "What's in that notebook?" He asked, gesturing to the book Rae was still holding. "It's in an odd language." Rae nodded.

"The... vision was a very long one." She said awkwardly. "And it spanned over the next three years. I was... cut off before it could finish, so I'm still not sure about what happens after that. But it spanned over many different subjects and people. I have issues with memory," She held up the book. "So I wrote everything I could remember. And it still has holes in it. Not to mention that it's still changing." The Hokage nodded.

"I see." He murmured. "And you feel... safe in sharing what you know?" Rae shook her head.

"Not at all." She said honestly. "But I don't really think I'm the best judge of that. And you, well, you've been Hokage for Kami-knows-how-long. I can tell you the events that happened originally, and personally I like things at a more predictable level, but otherwise I have fairly biased judgment on the whole thing." Sarutobi hmmed, folding his hands together.

"You've put quite some thought into this." He said with a raised eyebrow. Rae shrugged.

"It's a whole world at stake, Hokage-sama." She said mildly. "Literally. I don't want to jeopardize that because of my pride issue."

"Hm..." The Hokage leaned back in his chair. "Then why don't you begin?"

Rae breathed deeply and nodded, fingering her goggles. "I guess I can divide the problems into five different categories." She began, hoping that this wasn't a mistake. "The most immediate, but also the least of them all, being Orochimaru. Otokage of Sound."

The Hokage listened solemnly as Rae spoke of how Orochimaru would infiltrate the second part of the chunin exams and inflict Uchiha Sasuke with a cursed seal, then invaded Konoha during the third part and (Rae swallowed heavily) would kill the Sandaime.

"As far as I remember, you did something to him that made his... current body useless."

"Current body?" The Hokage asked incredulously. "He completed... that technique?" Sarutobi closed his eyes mournfully when Rae nodded. "... I see. And he wished to use Uchiha Sasuke for that, then, because of the Sharingan." Rae nodded.

"I think at first he wanted Itachi, seeing how the guy was a prodigy and had those higher level Sharingan." She said, finger making a little circle around her own eye. "Those pinwheel ones. But he's with Akatsuki, so even Orochimaru had a hard time with him. Instead his plan is to curse the emo and tempt him with the offer of making him strong enough to kill Itachi. Which leads me to the second problem: Uchiha Sasuke."

Rae was cut off by a quick knock on the door and a figure poofed into existence right next to Rae, making her start in her seat.

"Sorry I'm late." A voice said cheerfully. "I had to get some itching powder out of my hair." Rae stared open-mouthed at the silver-haired man standing next to her as the Hokage simply sighed.

She snickered, holding a hand to her mouth and trying not to simply laugh out loud.

"And what, pray tell, is so funny?" Hatake Kakashi asked, single eye staring at the odd woman that was very clearly holding in a laugh.

"I- I- I just..." Rae gasped in a breath and snickered again. "Y-You met N-Naruto, didn't you?" Kakashi's eyebrow raised incredulously, reaching up and feeling where a chalkboard eraser with that suspicious dust had clipped him.

"... Maybe." He turned to the Hokage. "You called, Hokage-sama?" He asked. Sarutobi nodded.

"I'd like to introduce you to Kuroda Rae." He said, indicating the still half-hysterical girl. Kakashi sweat dropped.

"Nice to... meet you." He monotoned. "You know Naruto?" Rae finally managed to control her snickers down to a smug smirk.

"I'm the one who gave him the itching powder." Kakashi twitched, reaching up and scratching a phantom itch on his head.

"... Hokage-sama, is there a point to this?" He finally asked the old man. Rae smirk dropped into a scowl, grumbling under her breath. The Hokage sighed.

"Yes, Kakashi, there is. Kuroda-san has certain... gifts that are beneficial to Konoha."

"Hm." Kakashi looked skeptically at Rae, who scowled back. "Not a ninja." He said decisively.

"No." The Hokage nodded. "But still beneficial to us, especially concerning Team Seven." Kakashi sighed.

"Truth be told, Hokage-sama." He said. "I'm not sure there's going to be a Team Seven this year either. The Uchiha's nothing but 'revenge', that pink-haired girl's a silly little fangirl, and Naruto..." Kakashi shrugged. "To be frank, Hokage-sama, he's a ramen-loving moron." Rae opened her mouth to protest...

"Anything to correct Kakashi on, Rae-san?" The Hokage asked in bemusement.

And snapped it shut after a thought. "Actually, that's all true." She admitted sheepishly. The other two sweat dropped.

"Now, Kuroda-san is quite close to Naruto, and has been his taijutsu instructor for the past three years." The Hokage said formally. At Rae's confused look, he explained "When a jounin sensei tests his genin, they are usually given a file on their capabilities by their previous sensei beforehand. You did not have a file officially marking you as Naruto's sensei, so it will have to be done the old fashioned way." Rae fidgeted under Kakashi's expectant stare.

"Ah..." She hmmed in thought. "I'd say Naruto is... about a green belt." The two men gave her blank looks. "It's the third level in the ranking system." She elaborated. "There are eight levels. Master is the highest."

"And what level are you?" Kakashi asked.

"I'm a brown belt. That's only the fifth level." Rae said. The Hokage nodded for her to go on. "Naruto developed his own moves in the style, but they're fairly sloppy. He's skilled in targets and levers, but when it comes to form he has to concentrate to keep himself in check."

"And what taijutsu is this?" Kakashi asked.

"It's not actually a taijutsu..." Rae trailed off thoughtfully. "Unless you count martial arts as a ninja thing. Which it isn't. There's no base stance to the style, and it's designed to be a more hit-and-run thing. But Naruto always failed in academy taijutsu, so... Yeah." She finished awkwardly. The Hokage hmmed.

"Care to show us some of this style, Rae-san?" Rae blinked.

"I'm not sure I could..." Another poof and suddenly Kakashi was directly behind her. Rae stared at him before looking at the Kakashi standing beside her. She stood and poked the one behind her.

_... Weird._

"Um..." Rae looked at Kakashi. "Will he kill me? Because I can only hold my own against drunk civilian speed. This is just asking for a kunai to my throat." At the thought Rae reached up and fingered the old scar on her throat, then shivered. The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"Kakashi's kage bunshin will not fight back." He reassured her. "He will move at civilian speed, feign reactions, and will take a bit of damage before dispersing. You will be fine." Only when Kakashi nodded in agreement did Rae breath out, standing in front of the clone with a scowl.

"Here goes suicide." She muttered darkly as the clone slowly, very slowly, began to punch her.

Hand deflect fist to side. Grab arm, other hand giving open palm to clone's throat. Grip still on arm, roundhouse to leg nerve. When the clone stumbled on the failed leg, Rae stepped in a triangle formation towards his back and whipped the arm behind him, placing a foot on his neck and simultaneously pulling and pushing.

The clone dispersed just as the wet tearing sound of ligaments ripping reached their ears. Behind Rae, Kakashi hmmed and rubbed his shoulder.

"Ouch." He said mildly. "Anyone of higher civilian strength would have been torn apart. Literally." Kakashi blinked when Rae slowly turned, a green tinge to her face.

"I..." Rae shuddered and placed a hand to her stomach. "I _hate_ that noise." She breathed slowly and deeply before nodding, turning to the two men. "Sorry." She muttered. "I'm kind of squeamish about ripping someone's arm off." Kakashi raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Rae tapped her goggles weakly. "Non ninja." She said, flashing a peace sign. Rae shuddered again. "Ugh."

"Are you ill, Kuroda-san?" Hiruzan asked. Rae shook her head even as she slowly sank to the floor.

"I'll be fine in a minute." She waved them off. "Go on without me." Rae reached in her pocket and tugged out her covered book, desperately trying to lose herself in Akiko's turmoil.

Kakashi shrugged and turned to the Hokage. "I've never seen a style like that." He said. "But it looked to be like a blend of older taijutsu. You'd probably want to ask Gai though." Kakashi shuddered at the thought. "Otherwise I think I can see the basics of the style. I'm quite curious to see how Naruto uses it."

"It's always different." Rae spoke up, nose still in book and regular color slowly returning to her face. "I taught Naruto every move for his level," She explained, flipping a page. "But it all depends on the user. Some people go for the nerves, some people go for breaking bones, some go for bruising organs. There are always different options, so Naruto may use it a lot more differently than me." The Hokage raised an eyebrow.

"A personalized style then?" He asked. Rae didn't look up.

"Exactly." Kakashi hmmed.

"Interesting, but I have a genin squad to prepare a test for. By your leave, Hokage-sama. Rae-san." Kakashi curved his eye in a friendly smile before vanishing. Rae shook her head.

"There are days I wish I were a ninja _just_ so I could learn to do that." She muttered, finally closing the book and standing. She sat back in her chair and rubbed her arms. The Hokage looked at her.

"Recovered?" He asked. Rae nodded.

"I would have tried to avoid a move like that," She said sheepishly. "But it's all based on a split second decision, you know? I don't usually do... that."

"Understandable." Sarutobi inclined his head. "Now, I'm assuming Kakashi passes Team Seven tomorrow?" Rae nodded.

"So long as it all goes right." She said. "But as I was saying, there's a certain unhinged emo that you may want to keep an eye on in the near future..."

* * *

Naruto huffed as he recounted the details of his team members to Rae. "And when I asked them if he wanted to train with me, that teme called me a dobe and Sakura did the same!" He ranted, scowling at the bowl of ramen in front of him. Rae sat on the stool beside him, swirling her own ramen.

"And what did you think of your teacher?" She asked casually. Naruto scowled even harder.

"He's _weird_, nee-chan." Naruto said. "He was late by almost an entire hour, so I put itching powder in a chalkboard eraser and put it over the door. Even though he was scratching his head the entire time, he looked all bored. And he didn't say anything but his name!" Rae tried to seem like she didn't know.

"And his name?"

"Hatake Kakashi." Rae tried to seem surprised.

"_The_ Hatake Kakashi?" Rae said in fake awe. "As in Copycat Kakashi, the one who graduated the academy when he was _five_?" Naruto looked up at Rae with saucer-like eyes.

"That lazy bastard?" Naruto demanded in disbelief. "The one that barely even reacted with half a bottle of itching powder in his head?" Rae coughed.

"Overdoing things, are we?"

"I was _bored_!"

"Anyway." Rae shook her head. No wonder Kakashi had seemed so upset about it. "I think having a jounin instructor will be good. I can't teach you anything about being a ninja, and Iruka had too many students to teach you on the things you needed help with individually. And Hatake is supposed to be the best of the best." Naruto scowled, folding his arms.

"I don't believe it." He said. "There's no way that baka is so great!" Rae shook her head sadly.

"Naruto." She scolded lightly. "There's always going to be someone stronger than you. He might be an idiot, but he's one hell of a ninja and is way out of your league. You said he mentioned survival training against himself?" When Naruto nodded Rae shook her head. "I'm not gonna lie, hero. You'll die."

"WHAT?" Rae scowled and placed a hand over her ear.

"Dammit Naruto, what have I said about yelling in other people's faces?" She snarled, then sighed as the ringing settled down. "He's a _jounin_, Naruto. You're a _genin_. There are other _jounin_ out there that can't match Hatake. There's no way in hell you'd survive if he came after you. That's why you have a new team-"

"But they don't like me!" Naruto cut in, scowling. "They don't want anything to do with me!" Rae raised an eyebrow.

"Then they'll die too." She said simply. "And you'll get sent back to the academy and have to wait another year to be a ninja. It's your pride or your dream, Naruto." Rae sighed when Naruto only looked away. "You said he was late, right?" Naruto nodded. "Then if he's like that the first day, then he'll probably be late again. _You_, however, should be on time."

"But _why_?" Naruto whined. Rae slapped her forehead.

"Because I'm pretty sure your teammates will be there on time." She said seriously. "You are going to wake up tomorrow, eat a good, _healthy_ breakfast-"

"But he said not to eat if we don't wanna throw up!" Naruto said. Rae raised an eyebrow.

"Then you'll all be very, very hungry while trying to survive something that is absolutely impossible." She said dryly. "What makes you think you'll throw up?"

Naruto's mouth opened and closed a few times before his jaw dropped.

"That bastard." He finally said. Rae sighed.

"Naruto, there are some things you need to think about yourself. Blind obedience versus common sense. Don't lose yourself to being the best damned ninja because you were nothing but a tool." She said sternly. "That's not living. That's one foot in the grave and following orders like some kind of zombie. Living people aren't like that. _You_ aren't like that." Rae said firmly. "Promise?" Naruto finally sighed, nodding.

"I promise."

"Good. Now remember what I said about pride. There's a difference between it and stupidity. And do you remember that condition when I taught you martial arts? About when to use it?" When Naruto nodded Rae smirked. "If Hatake says to use your full capabilities, don't hold back at all."

"But... but you said-"

"As your instructor, I gave you specific orders on how to use my teachings." Rae said sternly. "I want you to have Hatake teach you, and his orders override mine. If he says something about being a ninja that I say is wrong, then he's most likely right. I may know more about _my_ particular style of martial arts, but I want you to take it a step further. Master your own style of it. You're a ninja now, hero." She said, tapping his hitai-ate. "I want you to make your own name and be the greatest Hokage in history. But you can't do that without help from a team. The Hokage wouldn't put you on a team otherwise, neh?" Naruto grinned.

"Right! I'll be the best team member ever! And I'll show that baka sensei!" He declared. "Believe it!"

Rae only rolled her eyes and wondered if unleashing Naruto on his new team was some form of attempted murder.

* * *

Ha, probably. XD YAY KAKASHI IS HERE~! *throws confetti* TO MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE ANIME CHARACTER, YO! And yes, to those that realized that this fic would be an eventual RaexKakashi, kudos to you! It was put on my profile and Kakashi was listed as the second character, but still good job. :D Besides, Kakashi was technically the first Naruto character to appear in this fic! Briefly, with one line and he vanished almost immediately, but _still_. (Yes I'm talking about the unnamed ANBU member that fixed Rae after she was held hostage in the first chapter) And I didn't put it in the story's summary because any hint of romance is so far off I'd be making you guys wait for a while. I'm talking 'not even a hint of a fuzzy feeling until months after the incident with Orochimaru' kind of far off.

But do you know what really gets me about your guys' reviews? I can understand you enjoying the idea of an OC-insert. I can possibly fathom you liking mine, though I'm not sure to the level your reviews seem to claim. There's a distinct, one-in-a-million chance that my updates make you guys just as frantic for them as your reviews sound. But there's one thing that I must call out a major lie on: you people actually claim to like the OC herself! When I thought up a character like Rae, I was just going for the 'believable woman with a different kind of shitty background'. Not the kind that had their family slaughtered or survived some kind of rape attempt that made them cringe at male contact, but a kind of event that I have never seen attempted and what I've actually heard about. And have been warned against.

... No, I'm not telling you just yet. But the point is I was just going for a non-exactly-outstanding character that would just make believable actions. And I gave her a scar because it SCARS ARE COOL. And I didn't want Konoha to welcome her with open arms or anything. It's still a village full of mercenaries and child assassins. xD But anyway, I hope that whatever imbalance in your brain that makes you seem to like Rae... doesn't go away. If you want to like her, go right ahead. I'll just keep my opinions away from you about that *coughcoughNUTScough* and let you roll along.

Sorry for the long AN again, and thanks again to Sousie! Peace out.


	8. Bells

My sincerest apologies for being so long! I just kept putting this off as I watched my review count skyrocket until... *fanfare and confetti* I HAVE OVER ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! *cheers* Well, that and I began to hyperventilate. See, you guys have made so many lovely comments not only about my story but about my _character_, and I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing that makes her seem so... normal. *sweat drop* So therefore, I'm not sure what makes her likeable, and if I can't figure that out I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up her likeability. It worries me, yo.

Mental block of despair aside, I'd like to thank you all again for your support and reading this humble story! It really means a lot to me~!

Enjoy.

* * *

Naruto arrived just as Sakura did the next morning, pack slung over his shoulder. Naruto sighed; he'd eaten a _healthy_ breakfast, with those yucky fruits like Rae-chan made him eat all the time, and he'd thought about her words carefully before coming here.

And then he started to panic. If he couldn't defeat Kakashi in this, then he couldn't be a ninja. And then he wouldn't be Hokage someday. And he was never going back on his word!

"Hey." Naruto's head whipped up and he blinked at Sakura, who was watching him intently. "Did you see Sasuke-kun on your way?" She asked hopefully. When Naruto shook his head she slumped. "Oh." Naruto hesitated before shrugging.

"We're both kind of early anyway." He said casually. "Maybe he just wanted to be right on time?" Sakura nodded thoughtfully before scowling.

"I came here early to be alone with him too..." She said under her breath. Naruto sighed.

They sat for thirty seconds before Sakura's stomach grumbled and she blushed, looking away. Naruto blinked.

"You really didn't eat breakfast?" He asked incredulously. Sakura scowled at him.

"Of course!" She snapped. "Kakashi-sensei said not to, after all! He said the same to you!" Naruto shrugged, pulling off his pack.

"Actually, he said not to eat because we'd throw up." Naruto said. "But that's silly, because I'm not nervous at all! So I ate breakfast anyway!" Sakura scowled even harder.

"You're going to get us all failed, dumbass!" She growled. "You can't disobey a jounin like that!"

"But there are some things you have to figure out for yourself!" Naruto snapped back. "I'm not going to be a ninja that blindly follows orders! There are more important things than that! And I'll never go back on my word! Believe it!" Sakura stared at him with an unreadable look in her eye as he dug through his pack, pulling out a small bundle. "Here." He said, offering it to her. Sakura took it, unwrapping it to reveal an onigiri.

"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei said not to eat!" She snapped, holding it out for him to take back. Naruto hmmphed.

"I'm just trying to be nice, Sakura!" He scowled, rubbing the back of his ear. "Sheesh. I don't think you can do much on an empty stomach, that's all. Aren't you trying to be a ninja?"

"I'm trying to impress Sasuke-kun!" Sakura declared, melting slightly at the thought. Her eyebrows then furrowed in thought. "I guess... I'd look pretty silly if I was stuck because of hunger though..." She muttered thoughtfully, looking again at the onigiri. Without a second thought she bit into it, eating the whole thing in a matter of seconds. Naruto sweat dropped at how fast she'd eaten before digging out another onigiri and handing it to her.

"When's the last time you ate, Sakura?" He asked incredulously after she'd eaten four onigiri. Sakura shrugged.

"I'm on a diet." She said simply. "... And thanks." She added grudgingly. Naruto grinned.

"No problem! We're a team now, and teammates have to stick together, right? Otherwise we'd all fail!" Sakura's lips twitched in a small smile at his enthusiasm.

"... I guess..." She murmured, then perked up as a dark-haired boy came up on the field. "Sasuke-kun~!" She crowed, running up and latching herself onto his arm. Sasuke threw her off, scowling heavily.

"... Hn." He grunted. Naruto blinked. That was kind of like...

… _Weird._

"Hey, Sasuke!" Naruto said instead, waving at him enthusiastically. "Ready to pass?"

"Hn."

"... Oookay..." Naruto huffed. "When do you think Kakashi-sensei will be here?"

"Hn." Sasuke scowled at Naruto. Naruto scowled back. That was a little too much.

"Aw come _on_!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fist at the boy. "You gotta say _some_thing other than that! Even Rae-chan seems happy compared to you!"

"Dobe."

"TEMEEE!" Naruto finally snapped, standing and shouting at Sasuke. "What the hell's your problem, dumbass! I'm trying to be friendly _just_ _because_ we're on the same team! We're supposed to stick together!" He snapped, rubbing the back of his ear.

"I don't need a team." Sasuke finally growled, glowering at Naruto. "I can be strong by myself. I don't need you, or even you," He pointed at both Naruto and Sakura, who seemed crushed. Sakura wallowed in a little cloud of despair while Naruto fumed.

"Stupid bastard." He finally growled under his breath, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his favorite book. It was a bit worn after all these years; the pages ripped slightly from being pulled too hard, the spine dented from his... incidents with the walls in his attempts to learn to walk and read, the cover had scratches from being carried in the same pocket as his practice kunai from the academy. But Naruto still flipped open the book to the first page and read with excitement about the great hero 'Naruto'.

He still pictured himself as the main character.

Naruto grinned as he reread his favorite parts of the character fighting against the enemy, never backing down in his quest to be the greatest...

"... ruto... Naruto!" Naruto yelped and threw his book at the offending voice. Ah, that would be another reason why it was in such poor condition. His reactions to surprises. Kakashi snatched the book out of mid air and blinked at the cover.

"The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja?" He said in surprise, looking down at Naruto. "I'm surprised you know that book even exists. The main character's name is Naruto, after all."

"I know that!" Naruto yelled, shaking his fist at the man. "It's my favorite book of all time! I'm gonna be a hero just like him, too! Believe it!"

Something that he said made Kakashi shudder, eye closed tightly and hand gripped on his book a little harder than necessary. But the moment passed so quickly that Naruto wondered if it had happened at all. Then Kakashi put the book in his own pocket.

"Hey!" Naruto snapped. "Give that back! Rae-chan gave that to me!"

"She did, did she?" Kakashi asked mildly, pulling a clock out of his pocket. He then clapped his hands together. "Now, as I was telling your teammates, you have until noon to get these." Kakashi held up two shiny bells. Naruto glanced at the time.

"Hey! But you're late! And there are only two bells! There's three of us!"

"Glad to see you can count." Kakashi replied dryly, then raised his voice to the two standing to his other side. "Those who can't get a bell by noon... get no lunch."

As if on cue, Sasuke's stomach rumbled and he scowled heavily. Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Naruto and Sakura, who didn't seem too bothered.

"You ate?" He asked in surprise. Sakura meeped and pointed to Naruto.

"He's the one who snuck in food!" She cried. "I didn't want to, but you were late and I wasn't thinking straight and-"

"I'm not going to throw up, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cut Sakura off with a grin at the silver-haired man. "But I wouldn't have been able to fight to at my fullest if I hadn't eaten anything at all! And I'm here to show you that I'll be a great ninja! Believe it!" Then Naruto's grin fell into a scowl. "Now give me back my book you bastard!" He yelled, shaking his fist at the man. Kakashi rolled his eye.

"I'll give it back... maybe." He said. "If you three decide to impress me. Otherwise you'll have to get another one."

"But the stores don't sell that book at all! Rae-chan had to order it special!"

"Hmmm..." Kakashi gave a noncommittal shrug. "That's too bad then. I suppose you'll never see it again. As I was saying, the one who doesn't get a bell will be tied to a stump while the rest of us eat. You'd better not be that one, Sasuke." He said in amusement. "Seeing how your teammates seemed to think that through already. Not eating before a mission will get you killed, after all."

Sasuke simmered quietly, a rather dark aura around him as he glowered at Naruto and Sakura. Sakura looked as though she would cry.

"Not to mention the one that doesn't get a bell will be sent back to the academy." Kakashi finished. "So one of you will definitely be sent back. There are no rules in how you come at me," He said, holding up a fist. "You won't succeed unless you come with the intent to kill."

"But, sensei!" Sakura yelped. "You'll be in danger!" Naruto almost agreed, but he thought about what Rae had said about Kakashi. Apparently the man was a legend among jounin.

He was probably trying to get them to lower their guard so he could embarrass them! Naruto growled at the thought as Kakashi negligently replied that he would be fine. Naruto's hand strayed near his kunai pouch as Kakashi tied the bells to his belt, then held up a hand.

"Ready... Start!"

The four then all vanished.

Kakashi fingered the book he had confiscated in his pocket as he mentally tracked his students surrounding him, thinking of another blonde that had once said something parallel about his future son while holding that book in front of Kakashi, grinning proudly at his student.

_I wonder... will he live up to his legacy?_ Kakashi considered the thought before shrugging and reaching for another book, flipping open the pages to where he'd left off and reading.

"YOU'RE A PERVERT!" Kakashi blinked as Naruto fell out of a nearby tree before standing and pointing at him accusingly. He didn't think anyone Naruto's age would know what Icha Icha Paradise was...

"Hm? I'm not sure what you're talking about." Kakashi said pleasantly, not looking up from his book.

But then Naruto reached in his pocket and pulled out a similar orange copy, pointing at it as he scowled. "Don't lie to me, baka sensei!" He yelled. "I know what's there! You're probably a fan of page 132!"

"..."

"..."

"... Naruto." Kakashi said finally, eye slowly curving in a smile. "Are you an Icha Icha fan? Hmmm?" He could hear the other two students gasping in disbelief as Naruto turned beet red, shaking the book at him.

"N-No!" He yelled in denial. "This is someone else's book! But she always reads the red one instead! Why the hell are you _reading_ anyway? You have your own book, so give me back mine!" Kakashi shrugged.

"It won't make a difference against me." He said lightly. "Just attack like you normally would." Naruto scowled, but then vanished into the bushes again. Kakashi hmmed in thought. He'd expected Naruto to attack him blindly, but he seemed to know the difference in level between them. Something that had never been acknowledged by other stupid genin before.

_Interesting._

For the first time, Kakashi began to think that maybe having a genin team wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

"Sakura!" Sakura eeped and jumped as a hand clamped on her shoulder. She scowled as she came face to face with a certain blonde.

"Oh. What is it?" She whispered harshly. Naruto scowled as he peeked beyond Sakura to the reading jounin.

"We can't beat him, Sakura. He's just messing with us. He's a really strong person, after all!" He whispered back. Sakura scowled.

"That guy? You hit him with a chalkboard eraser!"

"He's just trying to get us to lower our guard!" Naruto said, clenching his fists. "And then he'll embarrass us like he did with Sasuke! There's no way any of us can take him down without help!"

"Then find Sasuke-kun!" Sakura whispered eagerly. "He can do it!" Naruto scowled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"He doesn't want to work with anyone, Sakura." He reminded her. "He doesn't want a team. But we need to be on a team to be ninja! He's going to make us fail!"

"But that doesn't make sense then!" Sakura snapped back. "Even if we worked as a team, one of us would still fail because there are still only two bells! But I've never seen a genin team with only two genin, so we'll never pass no matter what!"

Naruto scowled. This was just too complicated to understand. He like hitting things better, but he knew that it would most likely be worse if he walked right in front of what was obviously a trap and a very big fight he couldn't win.

Rae had always said if you couldn't win, then you shouldn't be there.

_But_, Naruto thought about her more recent words. _Rae-chan said I had to make my own style! My own way! And I need to fight to be a ninja! So I need to make my style in way that I can get in the first hit!_

Sakura stared as Naruto growled under his breath and stood, glaring at the jounin. "Naruto?"

"I may not be able to win," Naruto growled, fists clenched. "But I'll show him! I never go down without a fight! Even if I have to go back to the academy, I'll show him that I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and I'll surpass every Hokage! I'll be a hero whether he acknowledges me or not! Believe it!"

Then he jumped into the clearing. Kakashi seemed surprised and looked up from his book.

"Oh?" He said, blinking. "I thought you saw you weren't a match for me."

"I'm not!" Naruto snapped, crouching and pulling out a kunai. "But I never go down without a fight! I'll go back to the academy, but not without my book!" While Kakashi's attention was focused on Naruto, Sasuke finally spotted that opening and lunged.

Kakashi stepped to the side as a hail of kunai and shuriken rained down on him, putting away his book in surprise. Sakura realized that her Sasuke was on the offense and jumped out, not wanting to be left out.

Kakashi gazed around him at the three genin slowly coming in. "All of you, working together?" He asked in surprise. "There's still only two bells, you know."

"I'm not with them." Sasuke growled, shifting into a taijutsu stance. Sakura pulled out a kunai, glaring at Kakashi.

"I'll fight with you, Sasuke-kun!" She declared, stepping towards the jounin. Naruto blinked at the two and considered something. Then he grinned.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" He yelled, forming a seal as a crowd of Naruto's appeared. With a cry they all charged at the same time, leaving the original behind. Sasuke, believing the Naruto's to be illusions, waited until they were all right on the startled Kakashi before whipping his hands through seals.

"**Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu**!" Kakashi's eye widened as a massive fireball came towards him, still held down by the Naruto's. In turn, the clones all gaped at the fireball before they were roasted and dispersed.

The real Naruto winced. "Ouch." He muttered. When the fireball cleared, the three genin looked expectantly towards the center only to find nothing.

"Eh!" Naruto yelped, looking around. "Where'd he go?"

"Above?" Sasuke muttered, scanning up. Instantly Sakura looked down, eyes wide.

"Below!" She yelped.

"**Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!**" All three genin leaped towards the middle as three pairs of hands reached up where they had been crouched a moment before. With nothing to grab, the hands vanished back into the earth.

The three stood in a triangle, defensive positions taken and kunai out. A voice chuckled.

"I'm impressed." Instantly they whirled and faced inward as Kakashi materialized in the middle of them. He hmmed. "This is quite different than usual..." He muttered, almost to himself. When the three didn't move he raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Not going to attack? I was told you are all particularly skilled in different areas. We've covered ninjutsu, so..." Then the world warped in a swirl of leaves.

"Lesson two: Genjutsu."

* * *

Sakura nearly sobbed as she ran through the forest, two shadowy figures running behind her and Sasuke up ahead, just out of reach no matter how fast she ran...

Behind her, the two shadows were also running, growling out strange noises and snarling whenever she looked back. Sakura sped up, heart racing. How had this happened? She thought wildly. This was supposed to be a test, not her running from two figures that appeared from no where-

_OH_. Sakura suddenly recalled the last thing she heard before running from the shadows.

Genjutsu. Sakura squinted her eyes behind her, suddenly trying to see past the blurs. For a moment she swore one of them had yelled '-kashi' and had blonde hair.

Sakura swallowed and prayed she was right—because _Kami_- this was a hell of a lot scarier than academy genjutsu—and she dug her heels into the ground and formed a seal.

"Kai!" A 'whoosh' seemed to emit and suddenly the two shadows, Sasuke and Naruto, caught up to her and looked around in confusion.

"... What the hell was that?" Naruto finally demanded. Sasuke, now fending off a squealing and clingy girl, hned as he looked around.

"A genjutsu." He muttered. "I thought I was chasing Kakashi clones." Naruto nodded.

"I thought he was waving my book at me, the bastard!" Sakura still clung to Sasuke.

"I-I-I thought y-you two w-were some kind of sh-shadows!" She cried, slowly but surely cutting off any and all use of the dark boy's arm. Sasuke scowled, finally prying off the girl and glaring at her.

"It's still not over." He snapped.

"Took you long enough." The three jumped as Kakashi-yet again-appeared directly behind them. He sighed, shaking his head. "You two would have been quite lost without Sakura dispelling that genjutsu." He said mildly, hands in pockets. "Literally. You would all have probably gone all the way to Kumo before someone else realized what was wrong. But another time. For now, we move on to lesson three: taijutsu."

Kakashi held up a hand and waved in a 'come get me' motion. The three genin charged all at once.

Sasuke immediately leaped and attempted a punch at the jounin's head, only for Kakashi to block with one hand and hold his retaliating leg with the other hand. While his hands were occupied, Sakura whipped out a punch towards Kakashi's side, which he only shifted so Sakura overreached and stumbled past him. Only to whirl around in a roundhouse that forced Kakashi to throw Sasuke off and block her leg instead. Then Naruto came in at Kakashi's back and aimed a hammer blow to the back of his neck. Kakashi twisted so Naruto instead landed in a crouch on the ground before him and nodded in approval.

"Interesting." He mused quietly. The Sasuke came and kicked at his chest and he leaned back so the genin went sailing past instead. Sakura freed her leg and shoved Kakashi's arm so it was away, only for it to fall into Naruto's grip as he grinned.

Using Kakashi's arm and the force from Sakura's sudden punch, Naruto flipped the jounin around and on the ground just as Sasuke dove in, hand reaching for the bells tied to the fallen jounin.

Who vanished in a poof of smoke.

"A kage bunshin!" Naruto yelled in disappointment. Sakura groaned loudly as Sasuke snarled in frustration.

"Damn it!" Sakura snapped. "Almost. _Almost_!" She growled under her breath. "And we nearly got him!"

"Almost." Kakashi agreed, walking out from behind the trees. "Interesting teamwork." He said with an arched brow. "But I thought you'd be using your family taijutsu, Sasuke? That was something I've never seen before. And since when are you so good at the same style, Sakura?"

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke grinned simultaneously before vanishing in a puff of smoke. Kakashi's eye blinked.

"Clones?"

"NOW!" Then Sakura jumped down from the tree, latching onto Kakashi's legs as Naruto jumped from the water behind Kakashi, latching onto his back and grabbing his arms. Sasuke then came out from behind a bush in front of the jounin, smirking smugly.

"Found you." He announced. He then calmly tugged off one of the bells as Sakura reached up and grabbed another, beaming in excitement. Naruto instead reached a hand into Kakashi's sack and drew out his book, sticking out his tongue and placing it in his own pouch.

"Stupid thief." Naruto grinned. "We win."

The alarm reached noon.

* * *

"That," Kakashi drawled slowly, looking at the three in front of him. "Was the most impressive display of absolute circumstance and sheer, dumb luck."

Naruto, tied to the pole and glaring daggers at Kakashi (he'd taken his book again) thrashed and snarled "I CAN STILL KICK YOUR ASS, BAKA SENSEI!" Sasuke hned as he fingered his bell, glowering at the jounin expectantly. Sakura was too busy squealing over her own bell and Sasuke. Kakashi sighed, rubbing his forehead and pointing at Naruto.

"You had realized how pointless this whole thing was and was attempting some sort of suicide mission and only wanted to go down fighting." He said, then pointed to Sasuke. "You probably didn't even notice what my attention was on and were only looking for an opening. And you," He pointed to Sakura. "Were simply trying to protect Sasuke. There was no premeditation, no preemptive collaboration, only circumstantial cooperation. But I'm curious," He said finally, folding his arms. "What made you work together in the end? Sakura?" Sakura blinked up from her bell and hesitated.

"Well," She said shyly. "It was Naruto. While you were fighting Sasuke-kun, Naruto pulled me to the side after making two clones; one of them henged to look like me. When you threw Sasuke-kun into the tree (here Sakura glared at Kakashi) Naruto pulled him aside and did the same thing. Then Naruto told us that if we weren't going to pass anyway, he only wanted his book back. He said he had a plan to get both the bells and the books, and if we agreed we would get the bells." Sakura then beamed, holding up her bell. "And we got the bells, see Kakashi-sensei? So we pass, right?" She asked in excitement, squealing.

"Actually, you all fail." A long, heavy silence descended on them. "This exercise was all about one thing." Kakashi said darkly. "Teamwork. Not buying cooperation after only pulling together in circumstance. If I let you and Sasuke on the field, Sakura, I'd be guaranteeing two wannabe-genin that wouldn't work for each other, but for the next highest bidder. Not to mention you didn't understand what you had to do in the first place."

"B-But," Sakura stuttered, looking horrified. "It was to get the bells!"

"Sakura." Kakashi said sternly. "Have you ever seen a genin team with only two genin? No," He held up a hand to Sakura's protests. "There is no such thing. You all pass and fail together."

"What the hell?" Naruto snapped, thrashing again. "But you said-"

"You should have realized the truth behind my words, just like you did with the breakfast this morning. A ninja must look underneath the underneath." Kakashi said mildly.

"I already knew that!" Naruto snapped.

"Um..." Kakashi sweat dropped. "I'm telling you because you _didn't_."

"SHUT UP!" Kakashi sighed, holding up Naruto's book.

"I'll admit, Naruto; that was an impressive display of employment and you taking advantage of other people's needs." He said calmly. "But not so impressed that I'll give this back." He said finally, setting the book on the memorial stone behind him. Naruto let out a pathetic whimper.

"But sensei," Sakura said quietly, fiddling with her hair. "So we get sent back to the academy?"

"Nope. You can just quit as ninja for all you've shown me you're worth." Kakashi reached behind the memorial and pulled out two bento, ignoring the expressions of horror and fury. "But..." He hmmed thoughtfully. "I suppose you can get another chance." He picked up the book again, holding it up. "If you three work together and destroy this book while I have it," He said, ignoring Naruto's distressed cry. "Then I'll pass you all. It's your treasure or your career." He said, before putting the book in his pouch.

Naruto looked as though he would cry. Sakura flinched when she saw his face. "But, Kakashi-sensei," She hesitated. "Naruto's had that book as long as I can remember. It's his prized possession."

"Then you know what it means to destroy it." Kakashi said, shrugging as he handed the two lunches to Sasuke and Sakura. "You, destroying a boy's equivalent of his childhood teddy, when said boy has very little precious possessions to begin with." A small cloud of doom went over Sakura as Naruto hung his head.

Kakashi then waved and vanished. Sasuke dug into his bento thoughtfully while Sakura only gazed at her own.

"Is it really worth that much?" Sasuke finally asked in surprise. Naruto hesitated before nodding, not looking at them.

"Rae-chan gave that to me on my ninth birthday." Naruto said softly. "It's the story of a great hero named Naruto, who goes around the entire world finding an answer to peace. He's the strongest ninja in the world!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, looking up. "And I swore that I would be a ninja just like him, surpassing even the Yondaime! And I never go back on my word, so..." He flinched. "I'll help you destroy it." He said quietly. Sasuke said nothing while Sakura shook her head.

"I won't do it!" She said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Kakashi-sensei's just being mean! There's got to be some other way!" She said desperately.

Suddenly Naruto grinned at her. "Don't worry, Sakura!" He chirped. "Rae-chan will understand! Thanks for caring, though!"

Suddenly Kakashi poofed into existence before them, holding up the book and a kunai. "You going to do it?" He asked, tossing the kunai at Naruto. Naruto flinched as it whizzed by until he realized the ropes were gone, breathing out in relief.

"Don't scare me like that!" He snapped. "And yeah, I'll even destroy the book myself!" He declared. "Just you wait for round two, Kakashi-sensei! Right guys?" He crouched in a ready position as he looked to both sides. "... Guys?"

Sasuke and Sakura didn't move. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Is Naruto the only one who's going to destroy his own book then?" He asked. Sasuke crossed his arms.

"We want a different test." He said, scowling at Kakashi. "I'm not going to touch that book."

"It's Naruto's favorite, sensei." Sakura added quietly. "Isn't there something else we can do?" Kakashi looked at the three for a long moment before sighing, holding the book up.

"Maa, I suppose there is one other thing you can do." He said finally. "You... can..." Suddenly his eye flashed dangerously and they could easily imagine a wicked smirk on his face. "Guess how many fingers I'm holding up." He finished cheerfully, flashing a peace sign at them and curving his eye into a little eye-smile.

The three face vaulted and sweat dropped.

"Uhhh, two?" Naruto said hesitantly. Kakashi chuckled.

"Right! I guess you all pass then!" He chirped, tossing the book to Naruto. Naruto hugged it to his chest and beamed as Sakura and Sasuke grinned. "I've never had such an interesting three like you guys," He said, still smiling. "Everyone else was willing to do anything to become a ninja, even turn on their teammates. They all did as I said and looked absolutely stupid! But you know," He said, looking them each in the eye. "Those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash!" Naruto looked up with wide eyes as Kakashi turned and patted the stone behind him. "Circumstances like the ones you three were in could very easily get you killed if you hadn't agreed to work together, even for a common interest." He said. "Look at all these names. They're all ninja who have been recognized as heroes of this village."

"You mean those who were killed." Kakashi looked back as Naruto looked at the stone sadly. He nodded.

"That's right." He said finally. "My best friend's name is carved here. Being a ninja isn't for fun, and it certainly isn't a game." Naruto scowled.

"I know that!" He said. "I wanted to be a ninja so I can be strong, and protect my precious people!" He declared. "I'll be the Hokage and protect all of Konoha, and I'll be the greatest hero of all time!" Kakashi regarded Naruto for a moment before smirking under his mask.

"We'll see." He said finally. He then clapped his hands together. "Alright! Now then, tomorrow Team Seven officially begins its duties!" He declared, giving the three a thumbs up. "Let's go!" He waved and began to walk away.

Naruto grinned as he followed, then pulled out his book and finished his favorite part, when Naruto defeated the enemy ninja.

"Naruto, not many people can walk and read at the same time," Kakashi said in amusement. "You could-"

**Bam!**

"... Run into a tree."

"DAMMIT THAT HURT!"

"Shut up, Naruto! You'll wake up the entire forest!"

"I'll get it eventually, just you wait!"

"Hn."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Kakashi only sighed as he walked ahead. He decided that this would be an interesting team, after all.

Who knew what the future would bring for them?

* * *

Rae hummed under her breath, flipping a page in her book as she leaned against the counter. She'd read Icha Icha Violence at least six times by now, cover to cover, but it was still as funny and... interesting... as when she'd first read it. Rae didn't look up as she realized some people had sat at the stools in front of her. "May I get you anything?" She asked politely.

"Rae-chan! Rae-chan!" Rae looked up to see Naruto sitting there with a large grin on his face.

"Hm?"

"Guess what I did?" He asked, beaming proudly at Rae. Rae stared at Naruto blankly.

"Something stupid?" She finally asked after a pause.

"RAE-CHAN!" Rae smirked and ruffled his hair.

"Ha, just kidding... Well, not really." She admitted, making him sweat drop. "You passed then?" Naruto grinned.

"You bet! We're gonna start Team Seven's duties tomorrow!" He said in excitement. "I bet we'll get some really cool missions, too!" Rae hmmed in thought.

"I dunno, Naruto... They may make you work for those. Do something else." Naruto blinked owlishly.

"Then what _else_ would we do? We're ninja now!" Rae wondered just how much she should tell him before shrugging.

"I'm just saying don't be disappointed if you have to do other stuff first." She said finally. Naruto huffed.

"Well, you were right about Kakashi-sensei anyway! He's actually really, really cool, even if he is a lazy bastard!" Naruto huffed. "And he reads Icha Icha Paradise too!" Rae blinked.

"Huh. Cool." She said finally. "You're meeting them tomorrow then?" Naruto nodded.

"Yep! I'll come by and tell you all about afterwards, Rae-chan!" Rae winced.

"Actually, I have somewhere I need to be tomorrow morning." She said sheepishly. "I don't know how long I'll be gone. But I'll see if I can make it back before dinner." Naruto pouted.

"You've been going to a lot of meetings lately, Rae-chan." He whined. Rae sighed.

"I know, I know, I don't like it either. I may just lose my job if this keeps up." She muttered the last part to herself. "But it's for a good cause, hero. I promise." Naruto huffed.

"Fine. Whatever." He scowled. "But I thought of something new in martial arts! So we need to keep training with that!" Rae nodded.

"Ask when you have enough free time, and I'll try and free up some time too. You're coming along nicely in it, though." She ruffled his hair proudly. "I'd say if you developed it further, you'd be a master of it."

"Really?" Naruto looked at Rae with wide eyes.

"Naruto..."

"Right, right, you don't go back on your word." Naruto grinned. "Well neither do I! And I'll definitely be a master in my own style of martial arts! Believe it!" The two were in a comfortable silence then, Rae going back to her book and Naruto eating his ramen.

"Say, Rae-chan... Kakashi-sensei said something interesting."

"Hm?"

"He said, 'those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash.'" Naruto looked up at Rae with large eyes. "Is that true?" Rae sighed.

"Naruto, Kakashi's been around and seen a lot more than me." She said, flipping a page. "If he says something is trash, then it must be something pretty bad in an already ugly world. He knows more than me, hero. I've told you." Naruto scowled and rubbed the back of his ear.

"I know, I just wanted to make sure." He grumbled, then suddenly perked up. "You'll have to meet my team sometime!" He suddenly exclaimed. "They're not the nicest people, but they're still pretty funny! I think you'll like them!" Rae suddenly had a vivid image of her strangling a pink-haired girl for squealing so much, scowling heavily at an unhinged dark-haired boy who then tried to kill her, and eventually snapping at a silver-haired jounin. Who would then proceed to cheerfully kill her for doing something stupid.

Rae shuddered.

"Maybe." She finally managed, burying her nose in her book a little further. "Just maybe."

* * *

Foreshadowing? :O I'm a bit nervous about the next chapter myself, seeing how I don't want to do something that'll make all this lovely favor go away. And as promised, there will be a lot smaller timeskips. I'm actually putting in a whole pre-Wave arc instead of just going right to it like the manga. It'll focus a bit on Rae and the team's developments pre-Wave, and then there'll be another pre-Chunin Exams arc for some more development. Because to be frank, I was _very_ disappointed in the manga in the sense that the first thing we see is Naruto getting his team and hating Sasuke, and then the next thing we see Sasuke dies (should have _stayed_ dead, but I'm not here to bash him too hard) and Naruto goes crazy over his death because _apparently_ there was a hell of a lot of bonding between the two. Just a bunch of stuff we never got to see. That's all. *pissed off*

And I was rather nervous about this chapter, because the canon bell test is one of my favorite parts of the manga. It had to change, unfortunately, but I tried to keep them in character. Did I do okay? I really hope I did... Let me know if I made Naruto or Sakura or Sasuke too different, but I did kind of want Sakura to be a little less useless in this bell test and Naruto be a little less stupid. In his own stupid way and Sakura in her own fangirl way, but I'm just rambling now.

Peace out.


	9. Missions

Hello~! *dodges flying kunai and flames* I'm sorry for the wait! Really! But it was a combination of nerves over this chapter (I always get nervous on posting new chapters) and ectasy over watching my review count soar. I have over one hundred and sixty reviews~! *squee* But then a lovely reviewer by the name of colbub reminded me that I was doing this for pleasure! And I am! I made this story with not all that much thought into the finer details because a: my initial intention was for this story to sit like a bump on my computer and be for me to never actually post b: if it was just for me I wouldn't really care about such details and c: ... I just don't care. But I really should pay more attention to detail if I'm going to post this, so I will do my best to pay better attention in the future.

But I do know about the dattebayo and Believe It thing. I just happened to put in the Believe It for this fic. I swear in any other story I write I will incorporate the dattebayo instead though. But I don't know about food stuff like a wonderous reviewer by the name of Xynth pointed out (seriously awesome reviews, btw) so I would appreciate someone pushing me in the right direction for that kind of stuff.

And I was extra nervous about this chapter, but let me get something clear: **Rae will never, ever (read: EVER) be a real ninja**. Ever. Because a: I like to avoid the obvious, and b: It's just not freaking possible. The only reason I had her know martial arts was for NARUTO'S development. Not so she could have a background that would lead to a fabulous ninja life.

Anyway, enjoy.

* * *

Naruto sighed as he flipped a page in his book. This was a rather boring part, when the enemy ninja were plotting in the background. He wanted to get to the main part, dammit! But he knew that if he didn't read this part first he wouldn't understand the rest of the story at all. He scowled.

"When's Kakashi-sensei going to get here?" He finally shouted, snapping his book closed. Sasuke grumbled to the side as Sakura huffed.

"I don't know," She said, crossing her arms. "But it's already been over an hour! Stupid, lazy-"

"Yo." Kakashi suddenly appeared before them with a puff of smoke. Naruto stood and pointed at him accusingly.

"You're late!" He snapped. Kakashi eye-smiled.

"Ah, you see there was this little old lady that had some groceries she needed help with." He said pleasantly. "As a member of society, it's my duty to do such." The three genin gaped in disbelief at the painfully obvious excuse.

"Liar!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi hmmphed, pulling out his orange book.

"Well, Team Seven's been called in a meeting with the Hokage before any missions are assigned." He said, walking down the path towards the tower. Sakura blinked, following after.

"Why, Kakashi-sensei?" She asked. "Did we do something?" Kakashi shrugged.

"I have no idea, actually." He said lazily. "I thought maybe one of you could answer that."

The three sweat dropped.

Naruto watched in awe as the jounin weaved through the crowd with ease, never once looking up from his orange book. When they went inside the tower and to the receptionist he declared that he had to teach him that. Kakashi blinked up from his book.

"Teach you what?"

"How to read and walk at the same time!" Naruto exclaimed. "Rae-chan's okay at it, but you didn't look up even _once_! That's amazing!" Sasuke scoffed.

"Like it's that hard, dobe." Naruto whipped and glared at him.

"Teme!" He snapped, shaking his fist at Sasuke. "It's a lot harder than you think! I'd like to see _you_ try and not walk into anything while reading!"

"I don't need to."

"Actually," Kakashi said thoughtfully as the receptionist took them to the Hokage's room. "That's not a half-bad idea. It would really work on your awareness level, an essential skill for a ninja. Hmmm..." Then the receptionist knocked on the door, and after a voice called the team filed into the room.

Sakura blinked in surprise at a dark-haired woman with oddly-familiar goggles on her head turned and blinked right back at them before settling into a scowl and turning back towards the Hokage.

"... Hokage-sama?" She asked. The Hokage coughed, motioning for the team to walk forward.

"Team Seven, I'd like to introduce you to Kuroda Rae." He said formally, ignoring the sulking look on the woman's face. Naruto blinked rapidly.

"Rae-chan?" He asked in bewilderment. "What's going on?"

"Like hell if I know." Rae said shortly, shoving her hands in her pockets. Sakura blinked. This was the Rae that Naruto was always going on about? Even as far as she remembered in the academy, Naruto had always been boasting about some lady that would tell him things that contradicted with Iruka's and Mizuki's teachings. Sakura had honestly expected some older, perhaps ditzier version of Naruto himself. But this...

Rae was still scowling heavily, before she sighed and shrugged. "Hi." She said dully. Behind Sakura, Kakashi blinked slowly then waved.

"Hello." He said, eye curving into a smile. "This is Haruno Sakura," Sakura waved uncertainly. "And Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke hned and scowled, and Rae scowled back at him. He pointed to himself. "Hatake Kakashi. Nice to meet you." He said cheerfully. Something that he said made Rae raise an eyebrow, but she didn't say anything on the matter. The Hokage nodded.

"Now then," He finally said. "Kuroda-san, I called you here to meet with Team Seven, seeing how your business is so... directly involved with its members." Sakura blinked. This grumpy woman had business with them? Rae was still scowling and Sakura sweat dropped; did she ever smile? For someone who apparently was always around the ever-smiling Naruto...

_Probably as much as Sasuke-kun_, Inner Sakura grumbled. Sakura agreed.

"Oh? Business with us?" Kakashi blinked as he stared at the woman. "What kind of business?"

"My business." Rae snapped back. She then flinched back and sighed, rubbing the back of her ear. "Sorry." She grumbled. "I'm in a bad mood today." Kakashi shrugged, turning to the Hokage.

"So what does this mean for our team, Sandaime-sama?" He asked. "Kuroda-san isn't a ninja, after all." Sakura blinked at Kakashi's words but then looked at Rae closely.

Huh. With the odd scar on Rae's neck, Sakura had at first thought that she had put her hitai-ate somewhere not immediately visible. But as she scanned the darkly-dressed woman (another thing that threw her off) there wasn't a sign of any standard ninja gear or a hitai-ate.

_A civilian, then?_

"No," The Hokage agreed, puffing on his pipe. "But her... mission is quite beneficial to Konoha, and especially to your own team, Kakashi. She will accompany you and your team for the next month; not as a ninja, but as an observer." Rae flinched in surprise as Kakashi blinked.

"Hokage-sama," She immediately protested. "I have a job!" The Hokage nodded.

"As a participant in the team's D-ranks, you will receive your payment like any genin." He explained patiently. "So you may not want to miss any missions; Teuchi-san has already received word that you no longer work at Ichiraku's." Rae scowled hard at the floor, silent. Kakashi hmmed.

"And during training times?" He asked finally.

"Then she is free to do as she wishes." The Hokage nodded at Rae. "I would have told you before they arrived," He said apologetically. "But Kakashi's expected tardiness was... unusually early. But I believe this may be the best solution to our problem. You will report in at the end of each week on your observations. Any objections, Kuroda-san?" Rae scowled a long moment then sighed, slumping over.

"... No, Hokage-sama." She muttered. The Sandaime seemed to find this amusing, but held out a scroll for Kakashi to take.

"Your first mission." He explained as Kakashi took it. "It's not for at least another three hours, so you may do as you will until then. I'd suggest getting to know Kuroda-san, seeing how her mission involves getting to know you all." The Hokage nodded at them. "Dismissed."

* * *

"So," Kakashi clapped his hands together as the five stood on the bridge. "Now let's all get to know each other again. Naruto, you already know Rae-san, but you go first anyway." Naruto, who had been beaming the entire walk to the bridge, grinned.

"All right!" He said in excitement. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto! I like cup ramen, but Ichiraku's is even better! I also like learning martial arts! I hate the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook, and people who go back on their word! My hobbies are reading and pranks! And someday I'll surpass every Hokage in the world with my own martial arts and protect all my precious people! Believe it!" Kakashi nodded; it was the same thing he had said before.

"Sasuke." Sasuke grunted.

"Uchiha Sasuke. I don't really like anything and I dislike a lot of things. I don't have a 'dream', but an 'ambition'. I will revive the Uchiha clan, and kill a certain man." He said darkly. Rae watched him carefully, shuddering inwardly.

_Scary._ Kakashi noted Rae's reaction dully and moved on.

"Sakura." Sakura nodded, looking at Rae.

"My name's Haruno Sakura. I like... well, who I like..." Sakura blushed as she snuck a look at Sasuke. "Oh, should I say my dreams for the future?" She asked, squealing at the thought. Rae twitched.

"That's fine. I think I get the gist of it." She muttered. Kakashi only sighed.

"Hatake Kakashi." He said dully. "I like some things, dislike others, and I have far too many hobbies to count. I think for the future..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Rae-san?" He instead said. Rae sighed, crossing her arms.

"Kuroda Rae." She said finally, scowling slightly as she fiddled with the goggles on her head. "I like... um..." Rae blinked and tapped the goggles in thought. "Does just living a peaceful life count?" She asked, making the others sweat drop. "I hate backstabbers." She growled, careful not to look at Sasuke. "And people that can't see past the end of their nose. My hobby is reading in a nice, quiet place." They waited a moment for her to continue before Kakashi coughed.

"Dreams for the future?" He asked. Rae shrugged.

"I want to survive the next three years. Twenty-five would be a fine age to reach."

The four sweat dropped again.

"... Right." Kakashi hmmed, shoving his hands in his pockets and pulling out the scroll the Hokage had given him. "So, our first mission is a D-rank. A weeding job." He said, ignoring the stunned looks on the genin's faces. "But the client won't be home until two, so we have until then to do whatever."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, making the others cringe and put their hands over their ears. "But that's _boring_! What about the cool ninja jobs?" He demanded.

"You have to work your way to those." Kakashi simply said. "All genin start out with low level D-ranks." Naruto looked over at Rae, who only smirked back. He scowled.

"Fine." He grumbled under his breath. Kakashi seemed confused at the exchange before shrugging.

"So while I seemed to get a fairly good assessment of your skills yesterday... It was rather stupid." He said bluntly, making all three genin scowl. "So I want you to warm up with fifty push-ups, crunches, and squats. Then we can do some sparring." His eye curved up in a smile. "Except for Rae-san, of course." Rae shrugged and moved to sit under a nearby tree.

"But Rae-chan can fight, too!" Naruto protested. "She's as strong as any ninja!"

"No, I'm not." Rae said, pulling out her book. "I told you a thousand times, hero. I'm not a ninja."

"So why do you have a mission?" Sakura asked suddenly. "Civilians don't get missions, and they don't fight."

"I'm not a civilian either." At this all four blinked.

"You're not?" Naruto asked in surprise. Rae shook her head, still looking at her book.

"Nope."

"Then what are you?" Sasuke asked. Rae blinked at his voice and looked at him, then shrugged.

"No idea." She said flatly. "I'm not a citizen in any of the Shinobi nations. I'm not a ninja of any of the Shinobi nations. I was given a mission by the Hokage. That is the extent of my knowledge."

"And your mission?" Kakashi asked, eyebrow raised. Rae winced.

"That's... classified." She said lamely, ducking her head a bit. "The Hokage told me that I was free to tell who I wanted, but..." She shrugged helplessly. "I don't really think it's wise to tell you guys when I barely know you."

"Understandable." Kakashi said easily, turning to the genin. "Now, begin your warm-ups! Afterwards I want to see you in your taijutsu forms." Rae went back to reading as the three struggled through their exercises, flipping a page in her book as she considered her situation.

The meeting with the Hokage had gone in a different direction that what she'd assumed. Sure, she knew that after telling the Hokage one of his new genin was mentally unstable and would defect would warrant someone to watch him carefully, but she never thought that _she'd_ be the one to do so. Rae scowled as she realized that she would have to get to know the bloody little emo—she hadn't exactly been a Sasuke fan in her own world, and getting to know Naruto and knowing what Sasuke would do to him made it all the worse.

She really, really hated backstabbers.

"You look unhappy." Rae jumped and tossed the book at the unknown intrusion, scowling when Kakashi snatched it out of the air. "That was familiar." He said in bemusement, looking over the pages with a raised eyebrow. "Icha Icha Violence?" He asked incredulously. Rae blushed.

"That... That's not your business!" She finally snapped. "And I'm _very_ unhappy, thank you. I really wish there was another way to do this." Kakashi shrugged and handed back the book.

"Why?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Rae asked. "I like _peace_ and _quiet_. Your team is the _epitome_ of _chaos_. At least I can get Naruto to just sit and read quietly when I'm reading myself!"

"How would you know what my team's like?" He asked in bemusement. "We were just formed yesterday, after all." Rae scowled, pointing at Sakura.

"A fangirl that squeals around her precious 'Sasuke-kun'." Rae pointed to Naruto. "A little moron that feels the need to be as loud as possible when agitated." Rae pointed to Sasuke. "An emo hell-bent on getting as much power as possible to destroy his older brother. I call that opposing forces. Not that you help much." Kakashi shrugged.

"They're all pretty unique." He admitted, scratching the back of his head. "But you're close to Naruto, aren't you?"

"That doesn't change his intellectual status." Kakashi chuckled.

"I suppose not." The two watched Naruto glare over at Sasuke, who had finished his exercises and was watching Naruto smugly. "He's grown up in an interesting way." Kakashi said thoughtfully, shaking his head before looking sideways at Rae. "I assume that is on your part?" Rae shook her head.

"Nah, mostly genetics I think." She said lightly. "He only gets reading from me. The rest is all on his parents. You know, the only reason I gave him that kit was because it was rather obvious he had a pranking gene. And it would simply be dishonorable to the parent with the gene if I didn't encourage that." Kakashi nodded as he thought of Kushina. Though she had always been more of a vengeful prankster than anything, it was still there.

Konoha still shuddered when it thought of the bath house incident, when Jiraiya had been caught-

Wait.

"You know... Naruto's parents?" Kakashi asked carefully, turning to stare at Rae with a hard look in his eye. Naruto's heritage was something only disclosed to himself, Jiraiya, and the Hokage. While his name was Uzumaki, many simply assumed it was in remembrance of the precious jinchuuriki. Not that Kushina had been all that popular either.

Rae cringed guiltily before snapping her book shut and scowling at Kakashi. "It's really bloody obvious." She snapped, rubbing the back of her ear. "He's a spitting image of _him_, and then that last name. I don't see how the entire _world_ hasn't connected the dots." Kakashi winced as he realized that, yes, Naruto was a spitting image of Minato. The only thing he'd gotten from his mother was her eye shape. And... well, those whisker marks. And the Kyuubi.

And... Oh.

"That book you gave him." Kakashi suddenly realized. "You know who his godfather is as well." Rae sighed and nodded.

"I figured _some_day it would come clean." She admitted. "I wanted him to at least know why he'd been named after ramen. Though he only assumes it's because ramen is the greatest food in the world." She rolled her eyes, opening her book again. "And that book is actually pretty special."

"How so?" Kakashi asked curiously, but Rae simply pressed her lips together and continued to read.

"Kakashi-sensei! We're ready!" Kakashi blinked and looked over to the genin, who were all standing in ready positions. Except for... Naruto?

"Naruto, your stance?" He asked pointedly. Naruto blinked, arms casually at his sides and standing up straight.

"This _is_ my stance, sensei!" He exclaimed. Kakashi's eye shifted from Sasuke to Naruto, and Sasuke nodded before turning and punching at Naruto.

Naruto immediately deflected, grabbing Sasuke's arm and using his weight to throw him to the ground, kneeling forward on his neck and twisting his arm behind his back.

Rae snickered behind Kakashi as Naruto eventually let go, scowling.

"What the hell was that for, teme?" He yelled. "I was talking to sensei!"

"But he- you- ..." Sasuke glowered at Naruto as he stiffly got up, maintaining as much dignity as possible. "... Hn." He finally said, looking away with a scowl. Sakura blinked rapidly.

"What the hell was _that_?" She cried, running forward to check over Sasuke. Naruto blinked.

"Martial arts." He said simply, pointing to Rae. "Rae-chan taught me! I'm a green belt in it!" Sasuke turned his scowl to Rae, who scowled back over the top of her book.

"... Hn." Sasuke said again, looking away. Kakashi coughed.

"Right. I think it's best if Naruto spars with a kage bunshin then." He said mildly.

"I can handle the dead last!" Sasuke snapped, and Kakashi held up his hands.

"It's not that." He said reassuringly. "Naruto's fighting style is simply different than any taijutsu, and isn't to be used on allies. You could get seriously injured." He said, thinking of a clone getting its arm ripped. He rubbed his shoulder at the thought.

Naruto grinned and nodded, forming a seal. Another Naruto appeared with a poof of smoke.

"Right!" Naruto declared, smirking at his clone. "I got some new moves I wanted to show you, Rae-chan! Watch!" Rae sighed and nodded, putting her book away.

"Alright, hero." She said mildly. "Just remember your shapes. That throw down was more of an oval than a circle." She said, jabbing a thumb at the still-simmering Sasuke.

Sasuke looked as though he'd strangle her.

Naruto nodded. "Right." He turned to his clone as Kakashi sighed.

"Well, I'd say for Sasuke to spar Sakura," He said. "But I don't think Sakura will lift a finger against you. So," Kakashi formed a seal and two of his own kage bunshin appeared. "Let's begin."

Rae watched Naruto twist mid air and kick his clone in the back of its neck, snapping it to the ground and landing on its back before it dispersed. She hmmed. A move that still incorporated the circle rotation that was involved with levers and still didn't use quite as much effort, but could only be attempted with ninja speed and mid air.

When Naruto looked up at her she smirked and held up a thumb in response. "Absolutely genius." She said sincerely; it was an impressive move, and something that she almost wished she could attempt herself.

If she weren't so damn squeamish about breaking other people.

"That's nothing, Rae-chan!" Naruto declared, puffing up at the praise. Rae rarely praised him like that, after all. "I've got at least three more! Check this out!" Naruto suddenly formed three more kage bunshin, setting one in the middle as he and the other two stood in a triangle around it.

Rae inwardly grinned; this would certainly be interesting.

* * *

Kakashi flipped a page in his book as he glanced to the four that were on their hands and knees, pulling up weeds from the civilian's garden. He was fairly grateful for Rae then; she seemed to be the only thing that could make Naruto stay on task long enough without complaining. Even if it was for an argument.

"And when your second clone jumped," Rae was saying, digging into the roots of a particularly large weed. "Its grapple on the shoulder seemed off-balance. I couldn't see a hint of a triangle there."

"It was relying on the other two." Naruto huffed, digging in his own part of the garden. "When I grabbed the other shoulder and the third clone went for the neck, it made a triangle."

"A sloppy triangle." Rae scolded. "Good timing, but that was more three awkward angles than a good, equilateral triangle."

"Aw, come _on_!"

"No! That was _sloppy_, Naruto! You are _not_ learning sloppiness, _at all_." Watching Naruto scowl, Kakashi idly thought that _he_ was supposed to be the teacher. Even if he didn't know anything about that weird so-called martial arts.

Which really didn't help any. Kakashi sighed and closed his orange book. "If you keep arguing like that," He said mildly. "Then you'll never get any work done." Both Rae and Naruto turned and gave him similar dirty looks, making him sweat drop.

Sasuke was still scowling over his previous loss to Naruto, making him brood even more than before and occasionally scowl at Rae, who never failed to scowl back. Sakura seemed put off by her crush's silence, but she finally sighed and looked at Rae.

"If you aren't a ninja," She suddenly asked. "How'd you get that scar?" Rae blinked at Sakura's question and reached for said scar. Kakashi shrugged as he flipped a page in his book; scars were actually fairly common in Konoha, ninja or not.

"Someone tried to slit my throat." Rae said after a pause. "Obviously." Sakura scowled as Naruto seemed to choke on something.

"_What_?" He yelped, staring at Rae with wide eyes. "Who did that?" He demanded. Rae rolled her eyes.

"I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, hero." She said, waving him off. "It's fine. The guy's gone now. Kami knows where, and all that." When Naruto still stared at her she sighed. "What? You thought it was a tattoo that decided to bleed all over my only shirt?" She asked in bemusement. Naruto seemed to flinch at that and turned back to his weeding.

Kakashi sighed as Sakura blinked in confusion and opened her mouth; why couldn't they just be quiet and get the job done? "Only shirt?" She repeated in confusion. Kakashi was surprised she picked up on that. _Must be a girl thing._ Rae scowled and waved her off.

"Just some money issues at the time." She said. "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Naruto repeated incredulously. "But you were-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll _castrate_ you!" Rae snarled at Naruto, making all three males wince and Sakura stare at Rae. Sakura giggled when Rae smirked at her, Naruto whimpering before returning to his work quietly.

Kakashi let out a breath of relief when silence descended on the team; apparently Rae hadn't been kidding when she'd said that the group was nothing but opposing forces. Sakura opposed Naruto, who opposed Sasuke, who opposed... well, human contact, and Rae seemed to have something against the entire lot of them. Minus Naruto. But at least she attempted to be civil towards Sakura.

Sasuke glowered at Rae again, and she sneered back, making Kakashi sigh. For one reason or another, Rae couldn't stand the boy. Which was odd, because he might have expected the grumpy woman to get along better with the equally quiet, dark boy rather than the noisy, sunshine-all-around brat that seemed amused to no end whenever her scowl was turned on him.

Opposites attract then? Kakashi mentally shrugged and returned to his book. Whatever. He was just here to train some brats and make sure they didn't fail a D-rank. And apparently be observed by a woman that seemed to know a bit too much for an obvious foreigner.

But life was just weird that way.

* * *

Rae scowled as she walked behind Team Seven, Naruto alternating between talking her ear off and blabbering to Kakashi about... well, she wasn't sure. Oh, and he was giving Sasuke dirty looks too. Hm.

Kakashi was walking up ahead, obviously ignoring Naruto despite the occasional 'hmmm' and 'oh, really?' that could be heard. Naruto was oblivious to this as they continued to the Hokage Tower, apparently elated for having completed their first mission as a team; even if it was only weeding. Sakura was... Rae suddenly blinked, looking around for the pink haired girl before nearly giving a start as she realized Sakura was right behind her.

"..." Sakura blinked back at Rae then looked away, rubbing her arm. Rae shrugged. Okay, silent walking was good. Better than what Kakashi was getting.

"Ano... Rae-san?" Rae sighed. Of course the silence wouldn't last. Didn't these people listen? If Rae had a favorite phrase, then it would be 'peace and quiet'.

"... Yes, Sakura?" Rae finally asked, looking down and trying not to scowl too much. Maybe they'd just assume her face was always like that. Her blank looks were rather creepy, after all. Sakura fidgeted.

"So... How did you like our first mission?" She asked finally, attempting a small smile. Rae blinked in confusion.

"Er... It was... boring." She said, looking at Sakura oddly. "Why? What'd you think of it?"

"I thought it was... okay." Sakura said awkwardly, looking away. She suddenly giggled a bit. "And it was so funny how you got Naruto to stop talking like that!" She suddenly exclaimed, turning to smile at Rae.

"... Right." Rae looked away uncomfortably, then suddenly looked at her suspiciously. "Are you asking for something?" Rae asked, eyes narrowed. Sakura held up her hands, shaking her head.

"N-No!" She said. "I'm just trying to be friendly! Really! Other teams don't usually get another girl on them, and you're actually kind of cool! But rude." Rae blinked rapidly.

"... Sakura." Rae finally said. "I'm not on Team Seven. I'm just an observer. I'm going back to my boring-ass life as soon as Hokage-sama says the word." Sakura looked down.

"Oh." She said softly, turning away. Rae twitched. Sakura looked just like a kicked puppy...

Damn her for never getting over small animals!

"... But..." Rae inwardly cringed. "I guess I should get to know you guys a bit..." She muttered, looking away. "So... What do you like? Besides Sasuke." She added quickly. Sakura blinked as though the thought had never occurred to her.

"Er..." She blinked. "I guess I like reading." She said finally. Rae raised an eyebrow.

"You _guess_?" She asked incredulously. She'd known Sakura was a fangirl, but... _Sheesh_. "Hm. I'd think you'd like something or you wouldn't. For example," She jabbed a thumb at Naruto. "The blonde one. He's annoying and loud, but I know I still like him. He's like my stupid little otouto." Naruto beamed, waving back and grinning like a madman. Rae jabbed her thumb then at Sasuke. "The dark one. He's just like me. Only a hell of a lot creepier and looks like he'd bite me if I got too close. I know I don't like him." Sasuke glowered as Naruto guffawed.

"Hn." He muttered, looking away. Sakura looked horrified.

"How can you _not_ like Sasuke-kun?" She asked, mollified. "_Everyone_ like him!" Rae scowled, rubbing her ear.

"Sakura." She said impatiently. "Give me _three good reasons_ on Sasuke's character as to why I shouldn't consider him a creepy little emo, and I'll consider it."

"Because he's _Sasuke_!" Sakura exclaimed, staring at Rae as thought she'd grown four arms. Or dyed her hair pink. "He's smart, he's strong, he's... he's... Sasuke-kun!" She cried, throwing her arms up and squealing at the thought of it all. Rae slapped her forehead.

"I tried." She muttered to the skies. "Kami knows I tried. I declare this a lost cause." She sighed heavily, slumping as Sakura seemed to only grow more excited over Sasuke and attempted to cling to him the rest of the way. Naruto came up and patted her back as they walked up to the desk where the Hokage was sitting.

"There, there, Rae-chan." Naruto said in reassurance. "Girls are just weird like that." Rae's eyebrow twitched.

"I'm a girl too, _Naruto_." She growled, making Naruto back away slowly. He stood on the other side of Kakashi as he handed in the mission report. The Hokage nodded as he marked something on a scroll in front of him.

"Good first mission, Team Seven." He said, nodding at Kakashi. "And Kuroda-san? How did it go?" Rae sighed, standing up straighter.

"Exactly how it should be, Hokage-sama." She said dryly, ignoring the looks from the team. "I don't think it'll change for a while, either. Hopefully before the end of the month, though, for the sake of the... mission as well as my sanity." The Hokage chuckled.

"Let's hope so," He agreed. "Dismissed. Report back tomorrow morning at ten." Rae bowed and turned to walk away, only to be stopped short as Naruto grabbed her arm.

"Hey, Rae-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, tugging her arm. "Come on! We're all gonna go get ramen to celebrate our first mission!" Rae ruffled Naruto's hair as she scowled slightly.

"Not on the team, hero." She reminded him. "I think I need a nap."

Then Naruto looked up with his large, puppy-dog eyes and Rae cringed.

"... Dammit Naruto!" She snarled, crossing her arms. "Fine!" The others sweat dropped as she growled something unintelligible under her breath, allowing herself to be dragged by the eager blonde towards Ichiraku's.

Sakura stood beside Kakashi and Sasuke as they stared after the two. "That... was the Rae that Naruto would always talk about?" Sakura asked in confusion. "But she's... so..."

"Not like Naruto?" Kakashi offered. Sakura nodded. Kakashi chuckled. "Actually, I can see how they get along." He said lightly, pulling out his book and beginning to follow after them. Sakura blinked.

"How?" She asked incredulously. "They're complete opposites! I'm surprised Rae-san can even _stand_ Naruto!" Kakashi shrugged.

"Opposites attract." He said easily, motioning for Sasuke to follow. "It's that kind of friendship in which both friends see something they need in each other. Not all that common, and usually the hardest to put together, but they can be the longest-lasting of relationships."

"Hmmm..." Sakura suddenly blushed as she looked over at the brooding Sasuke.

_Maybe... Sasuke-kun will see something he needs in me...?_ Sakura thought, waving shyly at the boy.

_I can see what we need in him!_ Inner Sakura declared, pumping a fist in the air. _Good looks, a strong bod, and that _amazing_ badassity!_

Sasuke almost cringed at the dreamy look on Sakura's face. Almost. He instead walked on the other side of Kakashi and firmly told himself that he wasn't hiding.

Even if he did have a good reason to.

* * *

I'm actually a Sakura fan as well. You would know this if you saw the sheer amount of KakaSaku and KakafemNaru fics in my favorites list (be warned if you do go looking for them; they're all lemons :3) I've been having a Kakashi craze like usual, only in the fairly unhealthy form of lemons. Which I once swore I would never touch. Damn me and my weak resolves. This is why I had Rae go for the Icha Icha: I wasn't kidding when I said I would have peeked.

Anyway, I'm posting a new story soon called Eclipse! (No, no reference to Twilight at all) It's a Naruto what if in the form of pre-Chunin exams~! Here's the summary if you're interested:

**Before Sasuke's defection. Before Tsunade's arrival. Before Jiraiya's intervention. Before the Chunin Exams. Before it all went sky high, Konoha dropped to hell. Shimura Danzo always knew his perfect plan of assassinating the Sandaime would succeed, and as the new Godaime Hokage he has a hell of a lot of changes he wants to make. Least of which involves making one Uzumaki Naruto the perfect weapon. Not if Team Seven has anything to say about it. Whoever said that the lives of missing-nins weren't interesting?**

I know it's a crappy summary, but I plan for it to be fairly light hearted and rather fun. Can you imagine sticking Team Seven in a situation where they have to deal with each other 24/7, not to mention be on the run from Kami-knows-what? The idea was just too much. Aberration is still my first priority, but I wanted to post Eclipse too.

Anyway, thanks to all that reviewed and Sousie for her awesome beta skills! And don't worry Sousie: I've found my inner muse again, and I'll have the next chapters sent to you before you can say FLAMES OF- *bricked*

Peace out.


	10. Team Seven

Okay, okay... No excuse. I have absolutely no excuse that will justify any amount of time that I _didn't_ spend on this story, so I will just say it right now.

I am a very lazy bastard. And very sorry for that as well.

But I do feel the need to say: HOMG ABSLDFKJSDIOLF! DID YOU SEE THE STATS ON THIS BABY? Hits: **25,002** Reviews: **246** C2s: **13** Favs: **241** Alerts: **223**

... *bursts into tears of joy* Words can not describe how happy you people have made me. And then how unhappy I've probably made you people, and will most likely continue given my terrible track record. Because A: I have been a lazy bastard for years and will most likely continue thus and B: THIS CHAPTER IS CRAAAP. It's just a bunch of little bits put together trying to give you a vague idea of what's going on, and they all pretty much suck.

... Sorry. But try to enjoy? :D

* * *

"... And I can't quite see any sign of Sasuke leaning away from his revenge escapade, but then again, there weren't many signs of it in the first place." Rae said in monotone, scowl still in place. The Hokage nodded thoughtfully as she hesitated. "However... There's just this... _something_ when Naruto and Sasuke argue. I swear sometimes Naruto is picking fights with Sasuke on _purpose_. Usually when Naruto doesn't like someone, he tends to do as little as possible around them to even provoke them. But then Sasuke will poke fun at him when he's being too quiet, and then they'll argue _again_, and then Sakura will get mad at Naruto and chases him away in some comical situation." Her lips twitched at the thought. She'd been snickering the entire time when Sakura had slammed a plant pot over Naruto's head and yelled into the little hole at the top. Naruto looked quite dazed when Kakashi finally managed to pry the infuriated pink-haired girl off of him, and couldn't quite hear right for the next ten minutes.

Sasuke had been smirking as well. Shaking her head, Rae blinked and focused on the Hokage as he was saying something.

"... But even if this is the first week of Team Seven, it's interesting that there are any signs of improvement." Rae nodded thoughtfully.

"It may have something to do with the fact that originally, Naruto declared himself to be Sasuke's rival. Kind of like the whole Kakashi and Gai thing." She added, then shuddered. "Only Naruto was a hell of a lot less... youthful, and Sasuke was a lot less tolerant. They just pissed each other off then." Sarutobi chuckled at the comparison; Kakashi and Gai's 'eternal rivalry' was something of mass entertainment among the shinobi. It had dwindled down ever since Gai had gotten his own genin team, and Konoha truly felt the loss of the two doing one stupid competition or another. Like a favorite series that had been canceled.

"Would you have an idea of why Naruto had not done the same?" He asked, looking at Rae. Rae winced.

"I think it's safe to say that it's my fault." She said sheepishly, rubbing her arm. "The only thing that's changed in this entire world is my existence, after all. It could have been something I said to Naruto, it could have been me acknowledging him when he would be so starved for attention, it could have been him already having _one_ dark person in his life. He probably didn't feel the need for two people that did nothing but scowl and glower." She chuckled at the thought, but then frowned. "Either way, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not though. I understand that at the time of Sasuke's defection he had a very brotherly bond with Naruto, going so far as to call him his closest friend. Which... well..." Rae vaguely made a spinning motion around her eye, then shuddered. "Yeah. That." The Sandaime hmmed.

"And Sasuke's cause for defection?" He asked as confirmation. The woman hmmed.

"A whole bunch of things, one after the other. The fact that Itachi came for Naruto while he was away on a mission with Jiraiya and blew Sasuke away like he was nothing, the fact that Naruto's increase in power made Sasuke look weak, and then when a legendary sennin comes and offers power, well." She shook her head. "It just made it all go to hell. Then when he freed himself from Orochimaru and killed Itachi, only to find out the story behind the Uchiha Massacre... He resolved to destroy Konoha." Rae shivered at the thought. That meant killing Naruto, the one who swore to protect Konoha. And herself, seeing how Konoha was the only place she had to go. Oh, and everyone else too.

It would be a _problem_.

"And Itachi's wish was for Sasuke to be seen as a hero after killing him with Konoha's blessings." Sarutobi murmured sadly. "I had hoped that given enough time with a genin team, they could all defeat Itachi together, never knowing the truth." Rae shook her head.

"That's the problem, Hokage-sama." She said, shoulders sagging. "He's got some kind of thing against anyone being able to take out Itachi but _him_. Offering help with Itachi is like a big wound to his pride, which he declared to be the pride of his entire dead clan. Just say the word in power, and he'll bow as much as he'll allow himself for some, but then he'll take it and walk away." She thought about Sasuke's eventual techniques, his development of the chidori and his killing of Orochimaru.

"I think, originally," She said finally. "The plan was to offer Sasuke as much power as possible for his level to tempt him to stay with Konoha. But when that exhausted himself, he went and used the power to get away. It worked, too. Not even Naruto..." She trailed off, paling. The Valley at the End was the one thing in her mind that she remembered clearly; Sasuke rushing at Naruto, cursed mark spread across his body and chidori blazing, and Naruto with a red cloak of demon chakra. And Kakashi slowly picking up Naruto's still body in the rain, only able to glare after where Sasuke had vanished.

"_Naruto, was your fate inevitably... death?"_

"Rae-san?" Rae shook her head rapidly to see the Hokage looking at her in worry. "Are you well?" She shook her head numbly.

"It was hard on Naruto, Hokage-sama." She said, looking away. "His best friend left him for dead, gone away to get power from the Hokage's murderer. I don't want that for him. It's one of those things that has some sort of symbolism or crap, Sasuke goes to Orochimaru, Naruto goes to Jiraiya, Sakura goes to Tsunade, but I just..." Rae trailed off and looked at the old man helplessly, who nodded solemnly.

"But you became emotionally attached to Naruto, and you fear that such may impair your judgment." She nodded.

"I'm not gonna lie; I don't think I have it in me to go out of my way for someone that I know is gonna hurt Naruto. It's one of those 'hasn't done anything yet' things, but..." Rae shook her head. "It's kind of hard to look at the emo kid _now_, when all I can think of at the name 'Sasuke' is a big, bad guy with his electric chokuto stabbing through Konoha nin. More specifically, Naruto." Rae shuddered. The Hokage sighed.

"I can somewhat understand your plight, but as you said; the boy has done nothing yet, and perhaps with your meddling he will do nothing at all. All we can do is continue watching him and hope for the best." He said, leaning back and smoking his pipe. He nodded at Rae. "Is that all, Kuroda-san?"

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

"Very well. I will see you tomorrow when Team Seven goes to pick up its mission. Dismissed." Rae bowed before turning and walking out the door.

Strolling down the street and reading her book, Rae almost didn't notice when she nearly ran into a hyperactive blonde. She stopped just short and blinked.

"Naruto?" Naruto grinned.

"Hey, Rae-chan!" He said, grabbing Rae's arm and tugging her along. "Come on! Let's get some ramen! We barely got to do that all week!" Rae rolled her eyes.

"We had ramen just the other day, hero." She reminded him, but Naruto nonetheless dragged Rae all the way to Ichiraku's and sat her down at the stool.

Greeting Teuchi and ordering ramen, Rae picked at the noodles and sighed as Naruto slurped through his. Naruto blinked after his third bowl when Rae barely finished half of hers.

"Neh, Rae-chan?" Naruto swallowed. "What's wrong?" Rae shook her head.

"Just a whole bunch of stuff, Naruto." She said, looking away. Naruto nodded in understanding.

"Right, that secret mission Oji-san gave you?" Naruto hmmed, crossing his arms. "I don't like that you can't tell me." He pouted. Rae ruffled his hair.

"It's nothing to worry about." She said lightly, smirking at his affronted expression. "I guess it's kind of nice to spend some time with you. Even if you have a weird team." Naruto blinked.

"How are they weird? I know Sasuke's kind of a teme, and Sakura gets all squealy around him, and Kakashi-sensei's always reading those books and arriving late with retarded excuses..." Naruto ran the sentence over in his mind then blinked. "Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Rae snickered at the look on his face. "Though I'm not sure you're one to talk; you're pretty weird yourself."

"Rae-chan!" Rae snickered even harder, finally turning back to her ramen. Naruto watched her down her ramen with a satisfied look on his face before poking her arm.

"Neh, Rae-chan?"

"Hm?" Rae turned to look at Naruto, who grinned before reaching up and shoving the goggles down on Rae's eyes.

"I'm glad you're on my team, that's all!" Rae winced, looking at Naruto through the goggles.

"Not on your team, Naruto." She reminded him gently. "This whole thing is just temporary." Naruto pouted.

"Well, then you're _temporarily_ on my team! And I'm still glad!" Rae smirked, finally pushing up the goggles.

"Nah, me too, otouto." She said, leaning back against the counter. "Me too."

* * *

"RAE-CHAN, OPEN UP!" Naruto slammed both fists on the door to Rae's apartment, scowling heavily. Rae had never been late to the team meetings. Ever. Even if it had only been one week. It was kind of worrying after an hour, nail biting (to him) after two hours, and when _Kakashi _arrived and inquired where Rae was then Naruto began to freak.

Sakura was only half as worried while Sasuke didn't really care. Kakashi had eye-smiled and suggested that they go get the girl, seeing how it wouldn't do for Rae to miss out on both their D-rank and her own secret mission. Naruto had immediately raced to Rae's apartment, team in tow, and had begun pounding on the door.

A muffled crash sounded, along with what sounded like heavy swearing in another language, making the others sweat drop before Rae's voice snapped "IT'S ALWAYS OPEN DAMMIT!" Naruto blinked and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Oh, right." He opened the door and grinned at the sight of Rae, hair messed up and dressed in a simple shirt and pants and looking quite peeved. "Forgot, you know, again." Rae scowled at Naruto, rubbing her ear.

"What are you _doing_, Naruto?" She finally growled, but then blinked at the sight of the team behind him. She looked at them, at something near her bed, then back at them again with a deadpan expression. "Oops."

"Yeah, _oops_." Naruto mimicked, crossing his arms and sticking his tongue out. "You were later than _Kakashi-sensei_, Rae-chan! That's late!" Rae groggily rubbed her eyes.

"My clock broke." She muttered, going back into her apartment. Naruto followed cheerfully along with the rest of the team. Rae turned and scowled at them, holding up the broken remains of what looked like an alarm clock. "Did I say you could come in?" She muttered, picking up pieces of clock off the ground. "Damn ninjas."

Kakashi only smiled behind his mask as Sakura blushed. Sasuke only grunted, looking around with a raised eyebrow. "_This_ is where you live?" He asked incredulously. Rae hadn't done much to furbish her apartment over the years, not really feeling the need to. It was kept somewhat tidy, with the exception of a book here or there, along with a kunai that she occasionally threw at a block of wood. It was stuck there now, and Sakura removed it with a blink.

"You practice with kunai?" Sakura asked, looking the object over. Rae grumbled and took it back, stabbing it back in the wood.

"Not really." She muttered. "I just found that awhile ago. I like to stab something with it as stress relief." Sakura slowly backed away at that. Rae then scowled at Sasuke's question. "And _yes_, I do live here. I'm quite satisfied with it too. You got a problem with that?"

"Hn." Sasuke only looked away, making Rae's brow twitch. She looked at Naruto, who was picking up her notebook and looking it through. She walked up and snatched it back, smacking him on the back of his head and ignoring his whine of protest.

"Now if you'd be so kind as to let me get dressed." She said, glowering at the four. "I'll join you in a moment. _Leave_." She stressed, pointing at the door. Kakashi shrugged and walked out, the three following after some measure of hesitation. Rae slammed the door and scowled at it before sighing, getting dressed and putting on her goggles.

Rae then opened the door and walked out, though she did look back at the team grudgingly. "Thanks for, you know, waking me." She said awkwardly. "I probably wouldn't have woken up for a few more hours." Kakashi shrugged.

"Just get a new clock." He said cheerfully. "We wouldn't want you to be late _all_ the time, would we?"

"Like you're one to talk." The four monotoned, glaring at him. Kakashi held up his hands.

"Like I said, there was this black cat and-"

"Liar!"

* * *

"Ano, Rae-san?" Rae looked up from her book to see Sakura standing in front of her, rubbing her arm awkwardly. Rae raised an eyebrow. Naruto and Sasuke were being coached through throwing multiple shuriken, something Sakura had been unable to do after many attempts. She instead sat back with Rae, who was reading her usual book.

"Yes, Sakura?" Sakura blushed lightly, looking away.

"Um, I was wondering... Why don't you like Sasuke-kun?" Rae blinked slowly at that. What could she say? That he would turn into an evil psychopath in the future and attempt to destroy Konoha?

No.

"Well..." Rae fiddled with her goggles awkwardly. "He's one of those guys that doesn't really have to work for what he has." She said finally. "It's kind of like you said, _everyone_ likes Sasuke. But I don't really care about what happened to him. What I care about is the fact that he's rude, anti-social, and absolutely disregards human contact." Rae ticked them off on her fingers. Sakura looked at her incredulously.

"But that's the same as _you_." Sakura said almost accusingly. Rae nodded.

"Exactly. I don't like having another me around. It's too creepy." Sakura sweat dropped and Rae raised an eyebrow. "What? If you didn't like the way you were around people, would _you_ want another you around?" Sakura slowly shook her head.

"I... I guess not..." Sakura suddenly blinked. "You don't like the way you are?" Rae shrugged.

"I didn't say that. I said I don't like how I _act_." Rae scowled. "I don't really smile, and I seem to get a sick pleasure watching people trip over themselves. I'm fairly selfish, and I prefer quietly reading to being around other people. No," Rae shook her head. "I don't like how I act. But I've been like this for years, Sakura. Old habits are hard to change. Not to mention I look pretty creepy when I smile."

"Really?" In response, Rae turned and grinned at Sakura, who shivered and looked away. "That was..." Sakura shivered again. "You looked kind of evil." Rae smirked.

"Don't I know it." She scowled then. "I'm just one of those people that doesn't usually get along with other people. People like that _especially_ don't get along with people like them."

"But you get along with Naruto." Sakura pointed out. Rae's lips quirked slightly as she looked at said blonde.

"Yeah," Rae said softly. "I get along with the idiot."

"Why?" Sakura asked. "You like Naruto, but you don't like Sasuke-kun?" Rae scowled.

"I like Naruto because he's a hell of a lot of things I wish I could be." Rae said, looking at Sakura. "He's not that bright, but he's loyal, hard-working, and the nicest kid I've ever met. Even to people that don't like him." Rae scowled even harder at the thought. "I've spent a lot of the past four years standing up for the kid, Sakura." She said darkly. "Don't think that Naruto's life has been as happy as he seems. Sometimes I wish I could put on a smile like that, telling the world that I'm happy no matter what shit comes my way. But all I do is end up creeping out small children and making little old ladies glare at me." Sakura looked away.

"I still think he's an idiot." Sakura finally grumbled, crossing her arms. Rae sighed.

"And I still don't like Sasuke." She said. "But I guess it would be pretty hypocritical of me to ask you to give Naruto a chance when I'm not really willing to do the same with Sasuke." She admitted, closing her book. "So here. I'll try... to not glare so much?" She offered awkwardly. Sakura hmmed, looking back at Rae.

"And I'll try not to hit Naruto so much." She said at length, holding out a hand. Rae took it with a firm shake.

"Deal." Rae leaned back against the tree with a content sigh, opening her book again.

"Sakura." Kakashi called the girl to the rest. "We're done for the day. Tomorrow there's no mission, just some exercises in taijutsu. I'll ask you to come anyway, Rae-san," He said, looking over at her. "Seeing how Naruto's style is fairly unique from any taijutsu I've ever seen. And I'm sure you're still observing, after all." He added with a nod. Rae nodded back, standing and closing her book.

"Sure." She said, shrugging. She looked at the four staring at her expectantly. "... What?" Kakashi coughed.

"Nothing. Tomorrow at seven."

* * *

"Yo. Sorry I'm late, but there was this incident at the market..."

"Liar!" Rae only sighed, nudging the mop of blonde hair that was resting against her knees.

"Naruto. Wake up." Naruto stirred and yawned, standing with Rae from the tree she'd been sitting against.

"'S he here?" He mumbled. Rae nodded, scowling at the silver-haired jounin that was fending off a nagging Sakura. Kakashi responded with a wave.

"So is everyone ready for the day?" Sasuke grunted, shoving his hands in his pockets. Sakura nodded hesitantly while Naruto whooped. Rae just shrugged. "All right, we'll need to do some exercises before starting, so might I suggest Rae-san sitting out?" Naruto blinked owlishly at the man.

"Why doesn't Rae-chan get to exercise with us?" Naruto asked curiously. "Even if she's not a ninja, she's still doing everything else with us." Rae rolled her eyes and was about to answer before she was cut off by Kakashi.

"Rae-san isn't fit enough to participate in exercising." Kakashi said simply, pulling out his book nonchalantly.

… _What?_

"... What?" Rae twitched as she looked over at the completely unaware Kakashi. Sakura had put a hand over her mouth in indignant horror as Naruto and Sasuke exchanged clueless glances. "Are you saying I'm out of shape?" She asked in a low voice. Naruto looked at her blank face and backed away slowly.

"I'm just saying that you aren't up to participating at their training level." Kakashi said, jabbing a thumb at the three genin that were now simply watching the show. Rae twitched again.

"So you're saying that I couldn't handle their training?" She demanded, eyebrow twitching uncontrollably. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Not exactly." He shrugged. "Just that you aren't physically capable."

Rae turned an interesting shade of red, glaring murderously and pointing dramatically at the man as she seemed to internally blow.

"I'll show you physically incapable you... you _son of a hamster_!" She snapped, raising a fist to the sky and shaking it dramatically. "I'll show you, you goddamned white-haired _jii-san_! I'll get myself to a _mother-effing_ good level in no time at all! I'll freaking exercise _every damned day_ just to show you! Believe it!"

There was a long, awkward silence as the blood slowly drained from Rae's face and she slowly lowered her fist from the sky.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Did I just..." Rae couldn't bring herself to think over what she had just done. Sakura nodded solemnly, eyes wide.

"Yep."

"... And I..." Naruto nodded.

"Yep."

"... And then..." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"You said 'believe it'." Rae went cross-eyed and looked with a sudden desperation at Sasuke, who smirked back.

"... Goddammit." Rae slowly backed against the tree, shoulders shaking in hysterics and brow twitching more than ever. The four continued to stare at Rae as she slowly exhaled, burying her face in her hands.

"... You sounded just like Naruto." Sakura said in wonder after a long silence.

"I know." Was the muffled reply.

"... Kind of looked like him, too.."

"I used to say 'believe it' all the time when I was younger, okay?" Rae snapped, finally looking up. "It's a habit I try not to show! Just forget I did that!"

"But Rae-chan," Naruto suddenly said. "You don't go back on your word!" Her eyes widened and she groaned, burying her head in her hands again. Kakashi seemed to smirk under his mask.

"Then I suppose Rae-san will be joining us in exercise today." He said in an arrogant (at least to Rae) tone. "You may not want to attempt all the exercises at the same time though," He continued cheerfully. "Or you might overdo it. You're still at civilian level, after all."

"I know that!" Rae snapped, glowering at the jounin, who only shrugged and turned away. "It's all your damned fault, too." She muttered under her breath.

"Ah, ah, ah, I believe it was your own temper, Rae-san." Kakashi replied, not even turning around. Rae turned an interesting shade of red and turned away with a huff as he clapped his hands together.

"Now, one hundred push-ups, crunches and squats! Then one lap around the grounds!" He reminded the three. "Take all the time you need, Rae-san!" He called back. Rae growled English profanity but otherwise held her tongue; she had a nasty habit of saying stupid things in extreme emotion.

Exhibit A: Her now stuck doing an impossible exercise that would likely take the entire day.

Fan-freaking-tastic.

* * *

"I'll... show... that... bastard..." Rae huffed between breaths, pausing to gasp for air and resting her hands on her knees.

She'd done the push-ups and crunches and squats, though it had taken her the entirety of the afternoon what with her instructing Naruto between breaks. She'd finished just as Kakashi announced the training was done for the day, sending a long enough glance at Rae to make her absolutely livid. So she resolved that she _was_ going to do the final lap around the grounds, absolutely exhausted or not!

It turned out that they was big. As in, really, _really_ big. Or so it seemed when you ran along the tree line into the setting sun, internally damning a silver-haired jounin to the depths of hell and beyond. Right alongside the guy who invented puppy-dog eyes.

Rae glared up at the rising moon. She'd been jogging on and off for almost two hours, and as far as she knew she probably wasn't even a quarter of the way around the training grounds.

Damn her pride for keeping her word, and damn her for saying stupid things in the first place! Rae snarled profanities again, gritting her teeth as she continued to jog.

"You do realize that the grounds are at least ten miles around?" Rae stumbled and nearly sprawled, looking around wildly before glaring at a perched figure on a nearby roof.

"_That's_ what I've been having trouble with?" She demanded incredulously, still jogging. "Ten measly miles?" Kakashi jumped down from his perch, going at a brisk walk alongside Rae.

"If it makes you feel any better, most civilians would have quit long before the halfway mark." He said easily. "You're already three-quarters done." Rae almost stumbled again.

"Really?" She asked, squinting at the darkening sky again as if it had been the one to put the notion of 'barely there' in her head. "I thought I wasn't even close."

"It's just hard to judge distance at first." Kakashi shrugged, not even looking as though he was making an effort of keeping up. Which he probably wasn't. "But from my apartment to your starting point, it's another few miles." Kakashi continued. "At your pace, I'd say it'll take you another forty minutes."

"Thank you, Einstein." Rae grumbled, though pleased the night was coming to an end. "And your apartment is?"

"What building did you think I was standing on?"

"Some poor bastard's who didn't know a ninja decided to go jumping on their roof." Rae snapped.

"The same bastard that could hear your various profanities all the way from the roof." Kakashi retorted with a measure of amusement. Rae scowled.

"Then I don't care."

"... You're something of a hypocrite, aren't you?"

"Damn straight." Rae stopped again, wiping sweat from her brow as she closed her eyes. She panted and shook her head, sending her goggles down on her face. She didn't fix them as she pushed off the wall, opening her eyes and continued her jog. _Almost there_, She reminded herself. _Almost there._

"I'm sure Naruto would understand if you gave up." Kakashi said, giving Rae a start. Damn. She'd forgotten he was there. She scowled at him.

"Of course he would." Rae said simply, too tired to snap. "But I'm the one who taught him to never go back on his word. Being a hypocrite in this situation would be bad. Besides," She added grudgingly. "I've always had a pride issue." Kakashi chuckled at that.

"That could get you killed." He pointed out. Rae squinted at him through her goggles.

"Then it's a good thing that I'm not a ninja." She said finally. "I'd be a prideful hypocrite with a temper that would make me say and do stupid things."

"Probably." Kakashi agreed. The two continued on in silence before Kakashi suddenly hmmed in thought. Rae blinked behind her goggles.

"What?"

"What you always call Naruto."

"Oh, 'hero'?"

"Mm-hm. Why?" Rae hmmed, looking up at the moon again.

"Half out of respect of a man's last request, I suppose." Rae said finally. "From what I hear, the Kyuubi was a damn scary creature. Naruto's literally the only thing between the world and that thing. At least, that's what I tell people. My main reason's pretty selfish." Rae chuckled under her breath at the thought. "I'm just glad to have Naruto around." She said, lips quirking as she looked up at the moon. "He's my only friend in this crazy-ass place. I liked home a lot better, but I'll admit there's no one nearly as good a friend as that stupid kid. Like my own little sunshine." Rae suddenly turned sheepish, looking away from Kakashi with a blush. "I guess what I'm trying to say," She mumbled. "Is that I consider him to be the only thing that keeps me sane around here. Even if he is the most insane person in the entire village, easily." Kakashi only hmmed in thought.

"... I'm guessing your home's a fairly calm place?" He asked finally. Rae sighed at the thought.

"Not exactly. More... busy, most definitely." Konoha was still a village, after all. Ninja and all. "But no surrounding hostile nations. No ninja with the ability to mold some voodoo and kill someone in a matter of seconds. That's what guns are for." Kakashi blinked slowly,

"Guns? And don't you mean jutsu?" Rae rolled her eyes.

"If you went to my home, any so called jutsu would be considered magic voodoo." She said dryly. "Ninja are a myth. Chakra doesn't exist. Threats of demons? Try weapons of mass destruction."

"How massive?" Rae hmmed, fiddling with the goggles over her eyes.

"I'd say... all of Konoha completely flattened, easily." She said with a sure nod. "Along with several miles of surrounding forest. In the matter of one explosion." Kakashi stared at Rae incredulously.

"Sounds like an odd place." He said finally. "No one can use chakra, yet they develop destruction devices like that?" Rae shook her head.

"No one _has_ chakra." She explained. "Then developing technology got a little... out of hand."

"I'd say that's an understatement." Kakashi replied dryly. "Not even the Kyuubi did that much damage." Rae nodded in understanding.

"The technology is a kind of last resort thing." She said. "A whole bunch of different countries have those things on hair trigger, but everyone knows that if they use theirs then they'll get at least half their country obliterated in return."

"So you'd rather _that_ than our shinobi system? No one is capable of leveling countries like that, and there aren't any powers being held over us like that." Rae sighed, but inwardly admitted the man had a point.

"... I guess I'm just being homesick for a fairly screwed up world, then." She said finally. "It's just how I grew up, knowing my home could be destroyed in the blink of an eye and breathing in toxins that slowly corroded my system. It was still _home_." Kakashi shrugged.

"And no chakra." He said. Rae nodded.

"Exactly." She suddenly cast him a suspicious look. "You're a hell of a lot more open to the idea than the medic that kept me in 'observation' for five days when I told him the same." She said thoughtfully. He seemed to smirk under his mask.

"I couldn't sense your chakra when I heard your swearing." He explained easily. "I concluded that you either had kage-level chakra-suppressing, or so little chakra that it would be nearly impossible to detect. But even at this range I can't sense anything, so you must be telling the truth." He finished with an eye-smile. Rae rolled her eyes in response.

"Arrogant bastard." She grumbled.

"Just confident in my abilities."

"Hm."

"Oh, and you passed your starting point ten minutes ago." Rae whirled to look, but the silver-haired jounin vanished with a friendly wave and a swirl of leaves.

"... DAMMIT YOU-" Rae swore at the top of her lungs in English, not realizing she was running put of breath until a window across the street opened and threw a solid object at her head.

"SHUT UP, WILL YOU?" Rae picked up the block of wood and shook it at the man.

"YOU SHUT UP, BASTARD! YOU'LL WAKE UP THE WHOLE DAMNED NEIGHBORHOOD!"

"YOU... YOU LITTLE..." Rae imagined the man was probably having some sort of complex at the moment, and wisely made a retreat to her apartment.

She then set her new alarm to two hours after she was supposed to meet the team and collapsed in her bed.

* * *

... I have no excuse for the stupidity that is what you have just read. I'm hungry though, so I need to go eat. Right after a quick thing: GOD I LOVE YOU GUYS. Aaaand... Oh yeah. The whole 'jogging' thing is actually a little plot thing that fits into later. I wrote it awhile ago and looked back, thought it was suddenly kind of lame, but by then it had already been incorporated into a hell of a lot of plot and walla: Rae now jogs. Fan-freaking-tastic.

... I do actually talk like that. Isn't it fun? :D

Peace out.


	11. Training

Hey! Look! An update! :O ... Yeah, I'm not that excited either. It's okay. :D

But I am excited by your reviews! SERIOUSLY AWESOME DUDES. I'm almost at **three hundred**! Can you fathom such a thing? My favorite kind of reviews though are the ones that say 'I don't usually like this kind of story' or 'OC stories are usually lame' or 'I have no idea why I clicked on this because I was expecting shit' and then they compliment this story! You have no idea how happy they make me~! *noodles about*

... What was I going to- Oh yeah. Happy Valentines day! I don't have a boyfriend to celebrate it with, but it's still a cute holiday. Cute as in I love when my dad goes out and buys lots of candies. Without it I wouldn't care either way.

Enjoy! And prepare for the awesomeness that is MAITO GAI!

* * *

Rae grumbled under her breath as she walked to the training grounds the next morning, still fairly tired from running her lap. Naruto stood from his perch by the tree as Sakura and Sasuke looked at her incredulously.

"You're late!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Rae accusingly. She scowled back.

"I'm tired." She said shortly. "I decided to sleep in. The training ground is freaking _big_."

"You actually ran the entire lap?" Sakura asked in surprise. At Rae's tired nod she gaped openly. "But I don't even do that!" She exclaimed. "I just jog in a small circle and wait for Naruto and Sasuke-kun to finish near the end!"

"Which could seriously impair your training later in life." The four gave a start as Kakashi seemed to materialize behind Rae, eye curved in a smile. "Yo."

"You're late too!" Naruto shouted alongside Sakura. Kakashi shrugged.

"Well, I was-"

"LIAR!"

"... You didn't even let me say it." Kakashi grumbled, slumping slightly. He then blinked. "Oh, was someone else late too?"

"I just got here." Rae said flatly, glowering at the jounin and daring him to say anything.

Which, of course, he had to. "That's not good," He said, wagging a finger at her. "You might have missed something important, like us going to get our mission."

"You're a hypocrite too!" She snapped at him. Kakashi only smiled.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do!" She jabbed a finger at him accusingly. "And at least I gave a perfectly sound excuse as to why I was late, dammit!"

"And what reason was that?"

"That I purposely slept in!"

"But you didn't even hear _my_ excuse..."

"Oh? What could possibly be better than that?" He shrugged nonchalantly.

"I slept in too."

"..."

"..."

"... ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?" Rae roared to the sky, throwing up her hands in complete exasperation. She then began swearing profusely, making Kakashi roll his eye.

"You're quite cranky this morning."

"SHUT UP!"

"Make me." Rae stared incredulously before slapping her forehead.

"You're so- so... _Oooh_!" She made a vague motion with her hands as though to strangle the jounin, then turned away and folded her arms with a snarl under her breath. "Damn you." She said finally.

Kakashi laughed. Naruto burst into laughter alongside him, pointing at the jounin and holding his side.

"Wow, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto guffawed, all but rolling around in his mirth. "Rae-chan _really_ doesn't like you!" Kakashi laughed a little harder at that, nodding his head in agreement. Rae fumed.

"SHUT UP, NARUTO!" This only made the two laugh harder. "DAMN BOTH OF YOU, IT'S NOT THAT FUNNY!" Sakura began to giggle. "NOT YOU TOO, DAMMIT!"

Sasuke snorted.

"_AAARGH_!" Rae clutched her head and sped away, still shouting at the top of her lungs. "DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL AND BEYOND!" She then dissolved into a series of curses in English, all of which would have easily made any story rated 'M'.

Naruto slowly ceased his laughter as Rae's curses faded away in the distance, wiping away a small tear in his eye. Sakura's giggles dwindled down as well, pushing away from the tree that was supporting her. Kakashi chuckled once more before sighing, clapping his hands together.

"Well, in light of Rae-san's... absence..." Naruto and Sakura snickered under their breath as Sasuke smirked. "Let's go get our mission, and hopefully Rae-san will join us later." Naruto grinned widely.

"Let's hope so!" He agreed, trotting after Kakashi when he turned and walked towards the tower. "That was the most fun I've ever had with Rae-chan! Boy was she _mad_!"

* * *

"She ran away?" The Hokage asked incredulously. Naruto grinned, nodding.

"Really fast too! And shouting a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand." Sarutobi only shook his head sadly. He'd thought that Rae was kidding when she made that comment about the team's affect on her sanity, but...

"I... see... That is quite unfortunate." The Hokage eyed Kakashi, who looked away innocently.

He didn't buy it for a second.

"Kakashi... Did you-"

"I'm here!" Rae burst through the doors, skidding to a stop next to Naruto and panting, hands on knees. "Sorry... Hokage-sama..." She panted out. "I was..."

"..."

"..."

"... You were..." The Hokage prompted. Rae flushed then coughed.

"Um, the mission?" She instead asked. When Kakashi chuckled she turned a murderous look on him before turning away with a scowl. The Hokage raised an eyebrow but held out a scroll.

"A search and retrieval." He said, handing the scroll to Kakashi. "The daimyo's wife's cat, Tora, is missing." Kakashi slumped.

"... Again?" He deadpanned. When the team looked at him curiously, he only sighed. "Hai, Hokage-sama. We'll get right on it." He turned to the team with a tired look in his eye, motioning for them to follow. "Come on. This'll take at least the entire afternoon." The five walked out, immediately heading towards the trees.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked. Kakashi sighed.

"The target is an orange house cat, red ribbon on left ear, extremely temperamental when picked up. Runs at the sight of people. Usually found in the middle of the woods." Naruto scowled.

"We've been getting a bunch of stupid missions like these..." He muttered. Rae shrugged and ruffled his hair. Sakura blinked over at Rae.

"So, Rae-san." Sakura peered at Rae. "Where were you, anyway?" Rae hmmed thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

"... I'm not sure, actually." She said, making the others sweat drop. At their incredulous looks she scowled. "I'm serious." She muttered, rubbing the back of her ear. "I wasn't even paying attention to where I was going. It wasn't until I calmed down that I realized that I was somewhere around the Hokage Tower, and then I suddenly remembered the mission." She shrugged nonchalantly as the four stared at her for a minute longer before sighing and looking away.

"Well, you were just in time." Kakashi said easily. "I almost had to explain to the Hokage _why_ you ran off like that."

"It's still your fault!" Rae snapped, glowering at the man. "You're the one who made that stupid excuse in the first place!"

"It was the same excuse as yours." She turned a very angry shade of red, snarling under her breath before deciding not to answer the jounin. Kakashi chuckled under his breath and turned back to the front.

"Now keep an eye out, everyone." He said. "Tora is very sneaky. The result when a cat is tracked down by ninja teams since it first decided to run away years ago." Naruto snickered.

"How sneaky can a cat be?" He asked casually, putting his hands behind his head. Rae rolled her eyes.

"I'm guessing good enough to redefine the term 'Houdini cat'." The four blinked at her and she sighed, looking away. "Never mind." Naruto shrugged.

"Well, I still think that there's no way a cat can get by me!" He declared, but then looked around as he realized he and Rae were the only ones there. "... Where'd everyone go?" Rae pointed.

"They found the cat. He ran by a few seconds ago."

"WHAT?"

* * *

"Naruto, please don't kill the cat."

"Let go, nee-chan! I'll wring its neck!"

"Dammit hero, don't make us fail a mission!"

"Come on, the cat's going to get away!"

"Out of the way, dobe!" Then Kakashi picked up the cat by the scruff of its neck with one easy motion, making all four breath out a sigh of relief. Tora hissed and clawed at the masked man, tail puffed up in obvious agitation. They'd been chasing after the cat for the past three hours, each time the stupid thing easily slipping past their traps.

It never failed to leave a scratch mark on Naruto.

"I'm gonna kill that cat!" Naruto stormed up to the cat, shaking a fist at it making it hiss and spit even harder. Rae rolled her eyes as she grabbed Naruto's collar.

"Apparently it doesn't like Kakashi _or_ Naruto." She muttered. Sakura nodded in agreement.

"Well, Naruto's kind of loud, and Kakashi-sensei... Actually," She blinked. "I can't think of why it wouldn't like Kakashi-sensei."

"I'm guessing the guy has something to do with dogs." Kakashi held out the cat as far away from himself as possible, making Rae roll her eyes and hold out a hand.

"Here. Give me the hell cat." The man didn't hesitate in all but throwing the poor animal at Rae, and she snatched it by the back of its neck and slowly rubbed behind its ears, turning away from the rest of the group. "Shhh, Tora." She murmured. "It's okay, it's okay." Eventually the hissing dwindled into a satisfied purr and Rae shifted the cat so it was resting more comfortably on her shoulder. "There, there," She cooed, stroking the cat gently. "Was that so bad now?" She then turned and saw the four staring at her incredulously. "... What?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Hn." Rae rolled her eyes.

"Fine then. Don't tell me." In an instant she was back to doting on the animal, murmuring various words in its ear and tickling its whiskers. Tora mewed in contentment and licked her cheek. Naruto glowered.

"Stupid cat." He muttered, turning away with a huff. Rae shrugged.

"I think it's a real sweetie, aren't you Tora?" She smiled at the cat who purred in response. "Yes you are, Tora-chan, yes you are..." The four sweat dropped.

"Rae-san... You're acting kind of weird..." Sakura muttered. Rae blinked.

"... Really?"

"Seriously, Rae-chan." Naruto nodded seriously. "You're acting... _nice_." Rae scowled at him.

"I happen to like animals, thank you very much." She huffed. She then eyed Kakashi who was still staring incredulously. "Got anything to say about that?" She snapped. Kakashi blinked slowly.

"... I've never seen that cat ever calm down." He said finally. "Teams have literally had to drag that thing all the way to the daimyo's wife." Rae rolled her eyes as Tora yawned in her ear.

"Then this poor kitty really has a good reason to be sour." She said finally, nuzzling her cheek against the cat's back. She sighed as the cat began purring again. "I may be more of a dog person," Rae said in amusement. "But this is such a nice cat I may just consider switching sides! But then again..." She shrugged. "I'm rambling. You, and you." Rae pointed with her free hand to Naruto and Kakashi. "Tora doesn't like you two. Stay away."

"But Rae-chan!" Naruto whined. Rae rolled her eyes.

"No, Naruto. The cat. Doesn't. Like you." She snipped. "I would hate for the thing to go in another frenzy while in this position! Now _stay back_!" Naruto grumbled, but fell into step behind Sasuke as the five began the trek back to the Hokage tower. Sakura came up and began stroking the cat as well, eliciting more purrs and one very happy kitty.

"Aw, who's a good Tora?" Sakura cooed at the cat, making the three males sweat drop. Rae soon joined her, both doting over the cat that had caused no end of grief that afternoon.

"... It must be a girl thing." Naruto concluded in the back. Kakashi shrugged as Sasuke hned.

"They're all just weird." Kakashi agreed. Sasuke snorted.

"Maybe they're all just the same species. Hell spawn."

"..." A long, awkward silence commenced as everyone turned and stared at Sasuke incredulously.

"Did you... just make a joke?" Rae asked in bewilderment. Then her face twisted in a scowl. "And what the hell do you mean by hell spawn? I oughta sic Tora on your ass you little-" Rae broke off into another tirade in English, making the others simply sigh and ignore her. Sasuke snorted after a bit, making Rae turn red and snarl even louder. Eventually Sakura quietly took the cat before Rae agitated it too much, which made her even more irritated when she realized that Tora had left orange fur all over her dark clothes.

This meant that Rae was in a _fabulous_ mood when they finally reached the Hokage Tower, not to mention when they met the daimyo's wife.

"Tora-chan~!" The flashily-dressed woman cried, nails all but dragging the poor cat away from Sakura and squeezing the life out of him. Naruto inwardly decided it had its deserved fate while Rae glared at the ceiling and kept a mantra in her head.

_Must not react to obvious animal abuse. Must not react to obvious animal abuse. Must not react to obvious animal abuse._ For all of her effort, there was still a chronic eye twitch that stayed even five minutes after the woman had paid for their services and left out the door, cat still yowling.

Then the team went to the training grounds and began their exercises.

"All right, team." Kakashi said, cheerfully looking over the four. "Now I want one hundred push-ups, crunches, and squats. Except for you, Rae-san." He held up a hand when Rae looked like she might blow up again. "Not because of... whatever I said. Just take it in steps, otherwise you'll exhaust yourself every day and will be unable to progress anywhere." She grumbled under her breath but agreed with a short nod.

"Fine. How much then?" Kakashi shrugged.

"You could just do thirty of each until you can do them more easily, then slowly add on the number. You can still do the lap around the grounds though." He suggested. Rae, having no real knowledge of strength training, had no way of arguing without being shown up. So she crossed her arms and nodded again.

"Fine."

"That's the spirit!" Kakashi all but chirped, clapping a hand on Rae's shoulder—only to retract it a second later when she shot said appendage a dirty look—before turning to the three genin. "Alright, now today we're going to do some genjutsu practice..."

* * *

Hatake Kakashi stood on the roof of his apartment, looking at the setting sun with some measure of peace as he relished the silence. Sighing, he sat on the edge of the roof and leaned back, closing his eyes.

Having a genin team really wasn't at all what he might have expected. Sure, he'd known that perhaps having the Kyuubi container and the last Uchiha on the same team would make things a bit different, but still. He certainly hadn't thought that it would be so... Interesting.

And fun, in an odd, tear-out-your-hair-in-frustration kind of way. Take the previous genjutsu training a few days ago, for example. Sakura had taken to the genjutsu like a duck to water, even going so far as to test it on Naruto. Naruto had absolutely no luck at all with genjutsu it turned out, especially when it came to detecting them. So he'd thought that it really _was_ getting dark out and squinted hard to see where he was going. It wasn't until Sasuke made a scathing remark about how the sun was still out that Kakashi sighed and dispelled the genjutsu for Naruto, who was attacking a nearby tree that he believed to be the dark-haired boy in his near-blindness.

Then Sasuke had attempted the same genjutsu over Rae, who hadn't even looked up from her push-ups much to his frustration. Furious, he cast a genjutsu that would blur the victim's vision. Only to glower as Rae easily stood and walked over to a nearby store at Kakashi's request, bringing back five water bottles for the team. Finally Sasuke stood directly in front of the confused woman and cast a higher-level genjutsu that was supposed to make the victim hallucinate.

Rae had stared blankly at the boy before shrugging and returning to her spot under the tree, not looking up until Kakashi finally decided to tell Sasuke that any genjutsu wouldn't work on Rae at all. Not having chakra meant no brain chakra to manipulate, though he didn't say so out loud. Then Rae had glared at the boy and demanded to know why he was attempting a genjutsu on her, going off on one of her odd tirades when he only glared back and turned away with a superior huff.

Naruto had had to hold back Rae for once, the woman snarling like some sort of wild animal and attempting to get to the dark-haired boy who only smirked at her. Sakura eventually calmed down the irate woman, convincing her that she simply needed to cool down.

It turned out that Rae could hold grudges. She'd glared at the Uchiha for the rest of her exercising, even glowering over the top of her book as she waited for the team to disperse for the day before starting her jog around Konoha. It didn't help that Sasuke had gotten a kick out of it, smirking after her before finally returning to his own home.

Kakashi chuckled as he recalled the look on Rae's face. Irritable people were usually the easiest targets, even from other irritable people, apparently. Looking again at the sunset, Kakashi decided that having his team would certainly be quite interesting. More so with the Hokage's apparent mission pertaining to it and the odd woman that had been added with them.

Then the silence was shattered by a familiar string of profanities in that unfamiliar language. Kakashi blinked and crouched down to see a goggled figure growl something as she emerged from the tree line, apparently out of breath. He silently jumped to a tree above her head, clinging with chakra and crawling down the length until he was about a foot above the unsuspecting Rae's head.

"... show that damned bastard." She was muttering under her breath. "Physically incapable my ass!" She snapped, rubbing her ear in that odd habit she and Naruto had. Kakashi sweat dropped as he realized the girl was _still_ going on about his words earlier that week.

"You really don't know how to let things go." He mused out loud, making Rae yelp and jump to the side in a clumsy roll. He watched as Rae blinked up at him and scowled fiercely, easily landing on the ground in front of her as she stood with a stiff dignity.

"... You always try and scare the shit out of people?" She finally growled, crossing her arms indignantly. Kakashi inwardly rolled his eye; was she _ever_ in a good mood? Besides around devil cats, apparently.

"You didn't answer my question." He instead pointed out.

"And you didn't answer mine!"

"I asked first." Kakashi retorted dryly.

"And I asked second!" He stared down Rae for the longest time before she hmmphed, looking away with a scowl. "... Me being pissed is motivating." She finally muttered, answering his inquiry. "And you're easy to get angry at." Kakashi almost chuckled at that. Gai seemed to be of the same opinion.

"You're fairly easy to get angry." He replied honestly. "I think even Sasuke gets a kick out of it." It was all rather funny. At first, like Sakura, Kakashi could see little to suggest the sibling relationship the grumpy woman seemed to have with Naruto, thinking they were complete opposites.

However, seeing the two side-by-side revealed that they were more alike than anything. They both had that same temper that made them so easy to tease, along with similar explosions that made them declare a goal for themselves and ended with the same 'believe it!' Though Rae seemed to suppress that urge much more often than Naruto. They even had similar scowls, although when it came to a good mood Naruto would grin widely as Rae would only smirk.

It was even more entertaining when they fought over little things during the day, from moves in their martial arts to how the other decided to spend the small breaks Kakashi gave them every once in a while.

Kakashi then realized that Rae was waiting for him to answer her own question, and he shrugged with an eye-smile.

"Yes." He said simply, watching in absolute entertainment as the woman turned the most interesting shade of irritation before growling in her odd language and setting off at a brisk jog.

Kakashi easily kept up, watching her scowl at his continued presence. "Did you need something?" She finally snapped. Kakashi shrugged.

"Not really." Rae glowered and he rolled his eye. "Don't you get tired of getting so angry all the time?"

"Yes." She hmmphed and looked forward, shoving her goggles down on her face. "But then I'm just a naturally unhappy person. Don't you get tired of being so freaking laid back all the time?"

"Yes." _That_ made Rae nearly stumble and peer at the jounin through her goggles, but then she shrugged and looked forward again.

"I guess it's better than my reactions, anyway." She grumbled, almost to herself. "But then what else am I supposed to do? Smile? I ain't happy. I like to let people know exactly how I feel."

"And we can easily tell how unhappy you are." Kakashi finished with an eye-smile. Rae rolled her eyes.

"Like I said. It's motivating." She said shortly. "Otherwise I wouldn't give a rat's ass about strength training." Rae reached out and poked Kakashi in the arm. "That's what a ninja is for." Kakashi rolled his eye.

"You're big on defining yourself away from the ninja category." He commented. Rae shrugged.

"Would hate for people to get the wrong idea." She scowled. "I spent the longest time convincing _Naruto_ that I wasn't a ninja. But I'm not gonna change the way I dress; I've dressed like this for years. We've established I'm not going to smile, and the scar? Pfft. Plenty of people have scars around here." Rae rubbed at said scar thoughtfully. "Plus scars are pretty cool." She commented. Kakashi shrugged.

"Depends on who you're talking to. Most kunoichi like to hide their scars."

"And most women smile." Rae retorted, then sighed. "My mom was always telling me to smile," She said at length. "So I developed a creepy grin just to spite her. Now the closest I can get to an intentional smile is a stupid smirk like your emo little student."

"I've noticed you don't seem to like Sasuke." Kakashi commented with some amusement. "Can't stand having a male version of yourself around?"

"I wasn't kidding when I said he looked like he would bite me." Rae snapped. "Not to mention his hair looks like a duck's ass."

"..." Kakashi stared at Rae for the longest time. "... Duck ass?" He confirmed in an odd tone.

"Do you not see how it sticks straight out in the back? I'll bet if he went underwater he'd look like a headless duck carcass floating on top."

Kakashi snorted. Then snickered. The flat out laughed and ground to a stop, bending over with his hands on his knees and shaking from the effort of laughing so hard. Rae paused in her jogging and watched him curiously, then shrugged and continued on with her walk, scowling at how it looked like she wouldn't be home until dark again.

She resolved to start jogging in the morning instead, listening to Kakashi's laughter fade in the background.

* * *

"Okay, jogging in the morning? Not my best idea." Rae said out loud, eyebrow twitching as she glared at the monstrosity before her.

Said monstrosity gave her a thumbs up and a smile that hurt her face just looking at it. "I am ecstatic to know that Konoha's citizens are also concerned with keeping up their strength!" He declared. Beside him, a miniature version of the man copied the pose and grin.

"She is certainly a youthful civilian, Gai-sensei!" He declared. "To be out and exercising at six thirty in the morning!" Rae felt her eye twitch as she looked between the two.

"... I just have somewhere to be at eight." She finally said, rubbing her ear as she contemplated just how to get out of this situation. Maito Gai was easily the loudest, most peace-shattering person she had ever, _ever_ met. And he'd apparently cloned himself in Rock Lee, the two beaming at her with those face-splitting grins and all but sparkling at the woman they'd almost run into in their own trek around Konoha.

It was like some kind of sick nightmare.

"Ah, but I have yet to introduce myself!" The taller one declared, crouching in the oddest pose and throwing his arms up like he was defending himself. "I am Konoha's beautiful green beast, Maito Gai!" He declared. "And this is my most youthful student, Rock Lee!"

"Yosh!" Lee declared, jumping in front of his sensei and holding a thumbs up at Rae. "It is most wondrous to meet you, miss..." Rae wondered if it was really safe to tell them her name.

"... Kuroda Rae." She said, slumping slightly. Gai beamed.

"It is a wonderful thing to meet you, Rae-chan!" He declared, making Rae twitch again in irritation. "Lee and I were just on our one hundred and thirty-first lap around Konoha! Would you care to accompany us?" Rae desperately searched her mind for an excuse to avoid any further contact with the two. But she still had to complete her lap, or she'd be losing face to Kakashi.

"... I don't think you'd want to go with me." Rae finally managed. "I'm only jogging _one _lap, and just around training ground three. It sounds like you two were running at top speed." Gai waved her off in another dramatic pose.

"But we can spare time to accompany you as you finish your jogging!" He exclaimed. "And may I say, you are the most beautiful flower of youth I have ever seen!" Rae twitched as he winked and beamed again. Was he...?

Oh, no.

_Hell_ no.

"... You do realize that I've been jogging for the past hour and I'm barely half-way done, right?" Rae finally said in exasperation. "I'll probably _just_ make it to my meeting."

"Then you would appreciate the company, no?" Gai said somewhat seriously, nodding at her. "Lee and I can easily catch up later on our three hundred laps, right Lee?"

"Of course, Gai-sensei!" Lee declared. Rae slowly pulled the goggles down over her face to hide the chronic eye twitch that was developing.

Fan. Freaking. Tastic.

Ten minutes later found one irate woman jogging along the trees, two very enthusiastic green-clad ninja trotting alongside her and attempting to make conversation every thirty seconds.

"Such a beautiful morning, isn't it Rae-san?"

"Sure."

"Isn't exercise simply fantastic, Rae-chan?"

"Mm-hm."

"Are you a fan of hard work, Rae-san?"

"It's a good quality to have."

"Do you like turtles, Rae-chan?"

"..." Rae turned and stared at Gai for the longest moment, who only eagerly awaited her answer. She inwardly cursed the two for looking like two very enthusiastic puppies when it came to chatting; she couldn't quite bring herself to snap at them like she might have at Kakashi.

"... Turtles are... interesting creatures..." She said finally, looking back ahead. Gai nodded eagerly.

"Most consider them the sloths of the ground for their apparent sluggishness," He mused, but then held up a thumbs up at Rae. "But they are, in fact, the most hard working creatures of them all! Having to hold up their heavy shells their entire lives, carrying their burden wherever they go!"

"... Hm..." Rae didn't know how to respond to that. "That's... I've never... thought of it like that." She finished lamely.

"Most people don't." Gai assured her, patting her on the back and nearly sending her toppling. Damn ninja strength. "But it is always good to keep an open mind, and you learn new things each day!" He declared. Lee nodded eagerly behind Gai.

"That's why Gai-sensei became a sensei!" He exclaimed. "Because he knows the joys of learning new things, and he wishes to spread that joy throughout Konoha's new generation!" Gai turned towards his student, proud tears in his eyes.

"Lee! Such a youthful thing to say!" He exclaimed, choking slightly on his words. Lee's eyes welled up with tears and he beamed at his teacher.

"I learned from the best, Gai-sensei!" He declared, tears streaming down his face. Gai's tears soon did likewise.

"Lee!" He cried.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee responded.

"Lee!" Gai whirled and continued jogging backwards as he embraced his student.

"Gai-sensei!" Lee threw his arms around his teacher, choking as he cried with the man.

Rae felt like crying herself.

Eventually the two released each other and continued jogging like the entire episode had never happened. Or it happened so often that they could easily recover from it. Rae was pretty sure it was the latter.

"So, Rae-chan!" Gai turned and looked at Rae with another grin on his face. "What made you decide to do a lap around these training grounds?" Rae flushed at the thought, turning it into a cough and looking away.

"I got... pissed... and said that I would start exercising every day." She said, rubbing her arm in embarrassment. "And I always tell my little brother to never go back on his word, so..." She shrugged. "Yeah."

"Ah, so you wished to be the better example towards him!" Gai mused. "How valiant of you!"

"... Yeah."

"Lee is working to become a master of taijutsu!" He continued, ignoring Rae's half-hearted response. "It is only through hard work that one will succeed in their life's goals, after all!"

"Mm-hm."

"There are, of course, those who are born with natural talent." He pressed on. "But then there are those who are simply born into a life which does not treat them well! And they can be the hardest workers of them all! Just like the turtle!"

"Yeah..." Rae thought of Naruto's own life, born into a village that hated him from birth. Gai stared at her expression.

"Oh? I see you have experienced such first hand!" He exclaimed in surprise. "Do you know of any such hard workers?" Rae sighed and nodded.

"Uzumaki Naruto." She said simply. "No one really... likes him... but ever since he started the academy he's been out in the training fields every day, working his little heart out." Rae shook her head at the thought, ignoring Gai's look of surprise. "Sometimes I'd have to go and check on him to just make sure he'd come home for dinner. Of course, after I mentioned ramen he never forgot, but still..."

"You..." Rae blinked and turned to look at Gai, who was staring at her in surprise. He must have not expected a supposed civilian to not talk about Naruto with such fondness. "You know... Naruto?" Rae shrugged.

"Sure. He's like my little brother." She said easily; she knew she could trust these two. Lee looked at Rae curiously.

"I knew him in the academy." Lee said thoughtfully. "And I always knew he went to the park every day. But for training?"

"Why not?" Rae said simply. "Secluded, and the last place anyone would look for him."

"What a youthful endeavor!" Lee declared. "I had no idea Naruto was a fellow hard worker! I should have gotten to know him better in those days!" Gai patted his student's shoulder sympathetically.

"There are always second chances for lost opportunities, Lee!" He said. "You can always find him after training! I believe he is on my rival's team, after all!" Lee then turned and _sparkled_ at Rae, and she looked at him with a 'what do you want' look on her face.

"I had almost believed that there were fewer hard workers in Konoha, Rae-san!" He said, tears welling in his eyes as Rae cringed. "But you have shown me that there are still people to be met that present such opportunities! I, too, know how it feels to be born into a life that does not treat me well!" He looked like he would burst into tears again. "I was born with underdeveloped chakra coils, supposedly ensuring that I could never be a shinobi!" Behind him, Gai looked close to tears as well. Rae shuddered in horror at the thought of another 'episode' and quickly said

"It could be worse!" She said frantically. When Lee paused and looked at her curiously she scratched her head in thought. "Bad chakra coils is better than no coils at all!" She said. "I'm sure there's something you can still do with even a bad chakra system, after all!" Lee nodded thoughtfully.

"That's right!" He suddenly declared. "There are still _those_ techniques! I appreciate your effort to cheer me up, Rae-san," Lee added. "But no one has been born without a chakra system in all of Konoha!" Rae sheepishly rubbed her arm.

"Well, I wasn't born in Konoha, true..." She muttered. She then stopped jogging as the two seemed to trip on air and face planted, identical looks of bewilderment on their faces. Rae contemplated simply leaving them there before eventually discarding the idea; they would easily catch up later. "... Hello?" She instead asked carefully, walking back and nudging the prone Gai with her boot.

Then cringed as in the next second they both had their arms around Rae, squeezing her tightly with tears streaming down their faces.

She decided she should have run when she had the chance.

"I had no idea, Rae-chan!" Gai sobbed out. Lee nodded enthusiastically.

"To be participating in becoming stronger, even when you have no chakra at all... It's inspiring!" Lee cried.

"And to be born with such a condition!" Gai continued at the top of his lungs. "Yet you act so nonchalant about it! A level of acceptance which even my youthful student has yet to acquire!"

"And a level I intend to soon reach, Rae-san!" Lee sobbed out. "I will be proud of having even a damaged system in your honor, and I will take your words to heart!"

"Someone kill me." Rae whimpered.

"A worthy goal, Lee!" Gai cried, now simultaneously embracing both Rae and Lee. "And I am sure you will not fail!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"I hate to interrupt, but..." Rae nearly cried with relief as a familiar drawl cut into the moment. She could swear she was hearing a beach scene somewhere. "Rae-san has somewhere to be at the moment." Gai dropped Rae and whirled with a dramatic pose, leaving her to collapse to the ground and shudder in the horror of what she'd just experienced.

"My eternal rival!" Gai declared, pointing dramatically at one Hatake Kakashi. "How dare you intrude on our comforting of Rae-chan!" Kakashi blinked slowly and shrugged.

"I'm just here to get Rae-san to Team Seven's meeting on time." He said casually. Both Gai and Lee turned and stared at Rae.

"You're on Team Seven?" Lee exclaimed. "You're a ninja as well?" Rae shook her head, holding up a hand.

"No, I'm-"

"She's just tagging alongside the team." Kakashi cut in. "She has her own personal mission from the Hokage; she's not on the team."

"You..." Rae growled out, making Kakashi's eyebrow raise. "You've just made it worse!" She hissed, making him look towards the two green-clad ninja in confusion.

Lee was staring at Rae with the most adoring look on his face, eyes wide and mouth dropped before he clung to her like a bright green barnacle. "A personal mission from the Hokage himself!" Lee cried out, tears again streaming down his face. "For one with your condition! I hope to someday be as great as you, Rae-san!"

"Condition...?" Kakashi muttered, then nodded. "Oh, the no chakra thing?" He asked, turning to Gai. Gai stared at Kakashi, aghast.

"How can you be so insensitive?" He shouted, pointing at the man. "Rae-chan has to live in such a state every day of her life, and she must have worked hard to obtain her position in the Hokage's favor!"

"Weeell..." Rae began, rolling her eyes. She went unheard by anyone as Lee nodded in agreement, releasing Rae and standing by Gai in a similar accusing pose.

"Rae-san acts so brave about her condition!" Lee cried, face absolutely livid. "She puts on a brave face to the world and acts as though she doesn't care about not having any chakra at all! And she shows the world what it means to be born with nothing and to rise to a position above all others!" Gai looked at his student through proud tears.

"Another youthful speech, Lee!" He cried. "Kakashi must have seen the error of his way, or he has naught but a heart of stone! Isn't that right, Rae-chan?"

There was a long silence as the two suddenly realized that they were the only ones around.

"... Rae-chan? Kakashi?"

* * *

Rae openly sobbed as she clung to Kakashi, who had pulled her to his side and immediately shunshined away in Gai's moment of distraction.

"Thank Kami!" Rae cried, wrapping her arms around Kakashi's side as they appeared with a swirl of leaves on a bridge at least a mile from where the 'green beasts' were. "I thought they were going to kill me! I would have died from their 'Flames of Youth'! Believe it!" Rae didn't even have it in her to cringe at the phrase as she clung to Kakashi even harder at the thought, burying her head in his shoulder. "Thank you _so much_ for saving me!"

"Kakashi-sensei? Rae-chan?" Rae froze and twisted her head to blink rapidly at the three genin standing in front of them, eyes wide and jaws dropped.

"... Naruto? What are you doing here?" She asked finally, still frozen. Naruto, eyes still wide, slowly pointed to the sun, which had still barely risen.

"... It's eight o' clock, Rae-chan." He said eventually, never taking his eyes off Rae. "We meet here every day. And what the hell are you doing here, Kakashi-sensei? And with Rae-chan!" Naruto turned an interesting shade of red as he shouted at Kakashi, pointing at him accusingly. Rae suddenly remembered her position and stepped back from Kakashi as though she'd been burned. The jounin slowly held up his hands.

"Ah, Naruto, it's not what it..."

"You can't do that with _my_ _sister_, bastard!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi, absolutely livid. "Don't you dare touch Rae-chan again! I'll kill you myself! I'll kill you now so you can't touch her!" Naruto rolled up a sleeve and stormed forward. Rae rolled her eyes and stood in front of Naruto, putting a hand on his forehead to stop his advance.

"Naruto. Stop it. Now." Naruto looked as though he'd just been wounded.

"But Rae-chan, he-"

"Did nothing." Rae cut him off, scowling at the thought of what Naruto seemed to think. _Ew_. "Kakashi was only... ah..." She looked helplessly at Kakashi, who eye-smiled at the blonde.

"I was just saving Rae-san from Konoha's 'green beasts'." He said casually, scratching the back of his head. "They looked like they were about to strangle her with their youthfulness, after all."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Kakashi-sensei." Sakura finally said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "That has got to be your _worst_ excuse yet." Kakashi's smile turned into a deadpan expression.

"But it's _true_."

"I can't believe you, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted. "First you actually appear _on time_ and with my _sister_ clinging to you like some kind of freak, and then you _lie_ about why she's like that! I'll bet you replaced the real Rae-chan with some kind of clone!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, turning to point accusingly at Rae who only buried her face in her hands. "Impostor!" He shouted, storming forward. "Who the hell are you, and what have you done with Rae-chan?" Rae twitched as Naruto shoved his finger in her face, slowly lowering her hands to glower at Naruto.

"_Naruto_..." She growled.

Ten seconds later Rae stood beside Sakura in satisfaction as Naruto cradled his sore head in his hands. Punching Naruto's head may have hurt her hand and gone against every principal of her martial arts, but it was well worth it when Naruto sheepishly apologized after slumping to the ground in pain. Kakashi sighed and clapped his hands together.

"Well team," He began, then paused and looked rather sheepish. "Actually... I didn't think I'd actually be here on time." He said suddenly. "I don't have anything planned for the next three hours."

"You _plan_ your lateness?" Sakura demanded, eye twitching. Kakashi ignored her.

"So I suppose I can introduce a chakra control exercise for you to learn in your spare time." He concluded with a nod. "It usually takes weeks to master but, should you be able to do this, you should be able to master any ninjutsu... In theory, anyway." He added. The three seemed excited at the idea.

"What are you teaching us, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto demanded, all but sparkling at the thought. Kakashi eye-smiled.

"How to climb a tree."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... Kakashi-sensei," Naruto said slowly, face falling in disappointment. "We know how to climb trees." Sasuke hned in agreement, scowling and crossing his arms.

"It's something that even _she_ knows how to do." He growled, pointing at Rae. Rae scowled back.

"Bite me, duck butt."

"_What_?" Kakashi let out a sharp snort, abruptly leaning forward, but soon recovered and shook his head.

"I mean climbing trees without hands." He rephrased, walking up to the tree Rae was leaning under when the three didn't reply. "Like this." Rae moved to the side and watched as Kakashi stepped on the tree, going horizontal and walking up the trunk like gravity itself had been flipped. He stood upside down on the branch, hair flopping above Rae, grinning at the looks on his team's faces.

"That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "How'd you do that?" Kakashi pointed to his feet.

"Simply gather chakra in the bottom of your feet and you'll stick to any surface." He said with an eye-smile. "It's hard to control at first, especially in the feet, but it also helps with the stamina needed to control chakra. But me talking will waste the entire morning." With that, Kakashi pulled out three kunai and flung them at the genin's feet. "You can mark your progress as you go." He explained. "Try running and gaining momentum instead of just walking up a tree. Now go!" Kakashi flipped down and landed right beside Rae, making her jump and step to the side.

The three clutched their kunai and raced off to find trees to practice on as Rae hmmed in thought, closing her eyes tightly as she tried to remember something. This all seemed familiar, and yet...

"Something wrong?" Rae's eyes snapped open and she yelped when Kakashi's masked face was in front of her own.

"Just trying to remember something." She muttered, turning away with a scowl. "This..." Rae's eyes widened then. "Shit!"

"Hm?" She looked sideways at Kakashi and shook her head rapidly.

"Nothing!" Rae turned away quickly, trying to hide the shock on her face. This wasn't supposed to happen until their first C-rank!

**Crack!** Both Kakashi and Rae turned to see Sasuke's foot leave a deep impression in the bark of his tree, making him flip backwards onto the ground and glare at the tree in thought. Naruto was in front of his own tree, rolling around in... Well, who knew?

"Sensei, I did it!" Sakura exclaimed, making Kakashi and Rae look up to where she was sitting on a branch. Kakashi smiled.

"Well, it seems that Sakura definitely has the best control." He commented cheerfully. Sakura waved at Rae and she gave a smirk in reply.

"That's cool, Sakura!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully, though he seemed rather unhappy at his own progress. Sakura cast a hopeful glance at Sasuke, who only grumbled and looked away.

"Maa, Sakura's not only book smart, she has good stamina and control." Kakashi continued. "Probably the closest to Hokage at this rate." Naruto twitched his glare to Kakashi. "And even better than the Uchiha clan..." Sasuke glowered at his sensei.

"SHUT UP SENSEI!" Sakura yelled, tossing her kunai at the man. Rae twitched as Kakashi side-stepped behind Rae, the kunai thudding where he had been standing a moment ago. She glowered and punched his arm.

"You trying to kill me?" She demanded, eyebrow twitching. Kakashi rolled his eye, not even flinching.

"That's a fine way to thank the man who saved your life this morning." Rae scowled.

"What do you want then? Another hug?"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Rae blinked and looked back at Naruto, who had cut off from his stare-off with Sasuke to glare murderously at Kakashi. Kakashi chuckled.

"I'll pass." He said in amusement. "I think Naruto will eventually kill me otherwise." Rae rolled her eyes.

"What happened to 'confident in my abilities'?"

"I'd like to see _you_ fend him off when he's pissed." Rae opened her mouth to reply, but then snapped it shut after a moment.

"... Right."

"Of course, you could always ask Gai." Kakashi seemed to smirk at Rae. "Something tells me he'd be all too happy to do anything for you."

Rae punched his arm again.

* * *

Grumpy Rae is extra grumpy. Reminds me of myself sometimes...

Yeah, I don't know why Kakashi actually decided to do something nice for Rae. Maybe he thought she might ease up on him? (heaven knows I get sick of typing her ragging- I can only imagine being on the receiving end of it) But I do love Maito Gai! *confetti* Flames of Youth, baby! Man that guy is awesome. And HOT... *cough* Anyway.

So I was looking at the results for the poll on my profile, and a lot of people want Shards. This is good, because I'm already writing that on the side. But a lot of people also want Fang Dimension. While also good, it is something of a problem. I have at least three, absolutely stupid, completely retarded ideas for that story and no one to really bounce it off of. So if you're one of those people who want to read Fang Dimension and wouldn't mind a run through of the entire story idea, or just a generally helpful person, then let me know in a review or drop a PM! Here's a warning: the genre for the story is not only adventure and humor, but also a touch of supernatural and just a whole bunch of stuff that I have never seen incorporated into a time travel fic.

... So it's not so much a warning as a heads up. But still. I would love someone to bounce the ideas off of, because I've actually written so much of that story, all three versions, and it would be nice to at least know there's _someone_ who approves of what I really consider a stupid idea.

So yes. Gai is here, story idea needing approval, and all that jazz. Oh, and I love reviews you lovely lovers love people love love- *has eaten too many sugary chocolates*

Peace out.

**Edit! Thank you to KeiGinya for agreeing to sort out Fang Dimension with me- And for doing a wonderful job! I now have the details I was fussing over worked out and beautifully made, so there is no more need for help on that! Thank you!**


	12. Snap

You guys should probably know by now that I, Rin of Genericness, am a big, fat flake. That's why I don't tell you when I actually plan on updating- Because even I know it's not gonna happen.

... But I'm updating now? So don't kill me? :D

Over three hundred reviews! ARE YOU AS EXCITED AS I AM? Ha, as if.

Enjoy.

* * *

"... Is that so?" The Hokage mused, leaning back in his chair as Rae gave her news. "Interesting, but I'm not quite sure what early training has to do with Sasuke's progress." Rae rubbed her arm.

"See, Hokage-sama, as far as I can remember, the tree-climbing was the first time Sasuke ever acknowledged Naruto as a possible rival." She explained. "The two got into such a competition over it... and then after the C-rank was when their relationship seemed to take off." The Hokage blinked.

"'Take off'?"

"Ya know, like an airplane-... Never mind." Rae shook her head. "I mean when it really started to develop."

"Ah." The older man nodded in understanding. "And what was the cause of this change?" She flushed.

"It was my fault. There is absolutely no question about it." She said sheepishly. "I tried jogging early one morning and ran into Maito Gai and Rock Lee." He seemed amused at the shudder that ran down her spine. "They wouldn't leave me alone and started jogging with me," She continued. "And they decided that I was secretly suffering over the no chakra thing. Apparently Lee has a problem with his chakra system, and I was trying to fend off that episode but..." Rae paled in remembrance. "I got stuck in it. They were _hugging_ me and _crying_. Kakashi came by and managed to do that ninja-teleport-thingy to get me away from there. Only it happened that it was actually the meeting place, and the actual meeting time." The Sandaime raised both eyebrows.

"He was on time?" He asked incredulously. Rae nodded.

"And as a filler for the time he did the chakra exercise." She concluded. She snorted then. "He said that he didn't have anything planned for three hours, but the whole thing took up the entire afternoon. You couldn't pull Sasuke and Naruto away from those trees with a crowbar. It wasn't until a few days later that we could get them away long enough for even _one _mission." The Hokage chuckled.

"I'm guessing it was a fierce competition then."

"Like World War Three."

"..."

"... Never mind." Rae sighed and rubbed her ear. "Just a thing from home." The Sarutobi shrugged.

"Nonetheless," He continued. "It has only been three weeks into the beginning of Team Seven. There is still much progress to be had, but we can not expect it to appear quite as soon." Sarutobi nodded at Rae. "Anything else, Rae-san?"

"No, Hokage-sama."

"Dismissed."

* * *

"Rae-san?"

"Hm?" Rae looked up from her twentieth push-up to look at Sakura. Naruto and Sasuke were still running up their trees, and Sakura had plopped beside Rae in exhaustion when she couldn't climb her own anymore. Sakura seemed to fiddle with her fingers as Rae pushed herself into a seated position.

"Why... why are you still doing the exercising?" She eventually asked. Rae shrugged, taking a swig from her water bottle.

"Because I said I would." Sakura stared at her uncomprehendingly and she sighed. "Sakura," She chided. "When I say I don't go back on my word, that means that my words are just as good as a promise. It's a reputation of trust that I don't intend to lose over something like my absolute hatred of working out. I haven't even managed to read my book in a while." Rae added the last part almost sadly; she'd been right in the middle of Akiko's... awkward... position as she'd been spying on Nao's conversation... Rae shook her head at the thought before she gave her thoughts away. "Besides," She added. "Naruto is the same way. If he says something, he'll do something. It makes him into a very trustworthy person. And if a trustworthy person finds that he can't trust the word of someone else he considers trustworthy, well." Rae shook her head sadly. "It's not good for anyone, especially when he only has a few other people like that in his life. Iruka-san and the Hokage." Sakura looked over at Naruto.

"I'd suppose it'd be like pulling the rug out from his feet..." She agreed. "But why do _you_ try so hard? You're not related to him, are you?" Rae almost laughed at the thought, but instead smirked in bemusement.

"Not at all." She said. "He's just a good friend I like to call my family."

"What happened to your own family? And Naruto's?" Sakura asked. Rae's face darkened.

"Naruto has no living family, Sakura." Rae said darkly. "They died the day he was born. October tenth." Sakura flinched.

"He was born _then_?" Rae nodded.

"Yeah. Crappy day to celebrate when there's nothing but drunk civilians on the streets, all mourning." She rubbed her arm. "We had the hardest time celebrating his birthday. I would take him for ramen and then we'd usually do something special away from the town." Sakura hmmed in thought.

"... And your family?" She finally asked. Rae hesitated.

"When I... first came to Konoha," She said awkwardly. "I had been... lost. I was still looking for my home. I didn't tell my parents I was going anywhere; I didn't plan on even leaving. It seems like one minute I was home, and the next, whoosh!" Rae made a swiping motion with her hand. "In Konoha. No food, no money, no home. I never saw my family again." Sakura held a hand to her mouth in horror and Rae scowled, grabbing her wrist. "Don't say it." She snapped. "Don't try and make it better."

"But you-"

"I'm never going home, Sakura!" Rae released Sakura's wrist and glowered at her. "Never. I told myself that a long time ago. It's been over four years. But I have Naruto now. That's it. It's over. I'll never see my parents again, but now I have Naruto." Rae rubbed the back of her ear and sighed. "And that's fine." Sakura shook her head.

"But your parents-"

"Four years, Sakura. They've probably had my funeral by now." Rae shook her head at Sakura's look. "No. You don't look for people who vanish into thin air for that long. They wouldn't find me in a hidden village, anyway."

"Then why are you in Konoha?" Rae looked genuinely surprised at the question.

"Didn't you hear me, Sakura?" She asked incredulously. "I said I have _Naruto_. I'm not going to leave behind the last family I have to go find others that have probably carved my name in a tombstone. They should have moved on by now anyway." Rae made a dismissive motion with her hand. "And I promised Naruto that I wouldn't leave him." She added. "I owe him everything, after all. I don't intend to leave without paying my debt." Rae then flopped herself on the ground, again starting her push-ups. "So what was the question?" She asked, looking up at Sakura. Sakura stared at Rae for a long moment before shaking her head.

"I don't remember."

"Oh." Rae blinked then scowled. "Well that was a lot of talking for nothing then. You owe me five minutes of my life. I'll be sure to collect someday." Sakura giggled slightly as she walked away.

"I'll try to remember that." She said.

* * *

"I'm guessing you really did learn your lesson." Rae didn't even have it in her to flinch when a silver-haired jounin seemingly materialized next to her, keeping pace with her jog alongside the wall. Rae only glared up at the still-darkening sky and blinked in surprise; usually she didn't reach Kakashi's apartment until half an hour after sunset. She then shrugged; maybe she'd just started earlier than usual.

"I think one lesson was enough to get the message across." She said simply. "No jogging in morning unless you want to run into Konoha's youthful green beast and his mini-clone. It seems that people around here in the morning don't seem to understand the concept of 'peace and quiet'." Kakashi shrugged.

"Well, you didn't exactly pick the right people for that kind of environment." He said simply. "Though I'm still curious on what possessed you to try jogging in the morning in the first place."

"I have a habit of being inside when it's dark." Rae said, scowling at the thought. "I've met too many drunk civilians for my comfort. They'd always go for Naruto. Always."

"But you don't have Naruto with you." Kakashi pointed out. "You're probably less of a target then." Rae hmmed in thought; it was true, she'd once seen a drunkard on her way home from jogging who'd barely spared her a glance.

"Probably." She said at length. "Another reason is the fact that you seem to enjoy pissing me off."

"Which I do." Kakashi said mildly, eye-smiling when Rae turned a dirty look on him.

"But then Gai is so freaking _nice_ in comparison that I was choking to death even before that... _that_." Rae shuddered. "I could have sworn I heard a beach." He blinked in surprise.

"We always thought that was some kind of powerful genjutsu." He mused. "Whenever those two do... that... people suddenly see nothing but a sun setting over a beach. But if you could hear it..."

"Only the second time. But did you ever try looking through it?" Rae asked curiously. When Kakashi seemed confused she rolled her eyes and tapped her left eye. Kakashi blinked.

"Oh. No." He shrugged. "It's easier to ignore them; it sets Gai off like you wouldn't believe." He seemed to snicker at the thought. Rae rolled her eyes.

"So you get a kick out of setting off people. Figures it wasn't only me." She muttered, scowling at Kakashi who only flashed a peace sign. "So when do you think Naruto's going to snap over all these D-ranks?" She suddenly asked. The jounin hmmed.

"Well, it's almost been a month... I'm surprised he hasn't snapped already. But you should know better than me." He said suddenly. Rae shrugged.

"When I found out about the D-ranks I guessed a month." She said honestly. "Even the Hokage's waiting for him to snap."

"Is that why the Hokage told us one month?" Kakashi asked in surprise. Rae blinked in confusion and he rolled his eye. "You're only with the team for the rest of the week, Rae-san." He reminded her. "Then you're going back to your 'boring-ass life', as I believe you told Sakura." Rae almost stumbled at that; that was right, she could have her old job back after this week. It was the end of the promised month, after all.

… _Damn._

"Oh. Right. I almost forgot." Rae rubbed her arm, letting out a long sigh. "But that's right. I'm out as soon as you get your first C-rank." Kakashi looked at her oddly.

"I don't remember the Hokage telling us that." He said in surprise.

"Like I said, I guessed Naruto would take a month before snapping." Rae said shortly. "The Hokage agreed with me. It was a gamble, but now it's nothing more than a waiting game." Kakashi stared at her.

"The Hokage was waiting until Naruto snapped to give us a C-rank?" He asked incredulously. The woman nodded.

"I'm pretty sure you've heard of Naruto's pranking reputation around the village." She said mildly. "No matter what I've told the Hokage, Naruto is still viewed as a very immature brat. Hokage-sama just didn't spend as much time with Naruto as I have to realize that he can be fairly mature when he wants to be." Kakashi made a noise of understanding.

"You think he'll show up the Hokage's views when he snaps."

"I know he will." Rae smirked. "He may be Konoha's number one unpredictable ninja, but I think that if anyone had known him as long as I have they could see he runs like clockwork."

"Number one _knuckle-headed_ unpredictable ninja." Kakashi corrected her. Rae snickered.

"That too."

"And Naruto is certainly improving," Kakashi continued thoughtfully. "From dead-last to competing with Sasuke. He reached the top of the tree first, after all." Rae nodded in remembrance; Sasuke had been absolutely livid when Naruto had done such. Rae had treated Naruto to ramen in celebration after smirking properly at the boy.

"Poor duck butt." She commented lightly. "I thought he would have a stroke at that." Kakashi twitched slightly at the name and she rolled her eyes. "Aw, come on." She teased. "You know it looks like a duck's ass."

"I do." He said simply, smirking under his mask. Rae snickered.

"I can't imagine how he got it to stick out like that." She commented, but then suddenly leveled a long, thoughtful look at Kakashi. Kakashi met her eyes and twitched as her gaze slowly traveled to his own gravity-defying hair. "..."

"..."

"... _Nah_." Rae finally decided, looking back to the front. Kakashi's eye twitched.

"'_Nah_' what?" He demanded.

"Naaah..." Rae slowly drawled, but then looked again at his hair thoughtfully. "... Hmmm..."

"That's _natural_, thank you." Kakashi grumbled, then stopped short when Rae began snickering even harder. "What?" He demanded.

"You..." Rae stopped jogging and leaned against the wall, fighting between breathing and snickering at the irritated jounin. "Kakashi..." She sniggered. "Am I _irritating_ you?" She finally managed, smirking at the man.

He blinked slowly before chuckling, scratching the back of his head. "I guess so." He chuckled a bit, then blinked at Rae's sour expression. "What?"

"Dammit." Rae scowled. "It's no fun when people start _laughing_ about getting irritated. How the hell do you do that?" She demanded, starting up her jogging again. Kakashi eye-smiled as he kept up.

"Years of practice." He said, smirking. Rae scowled even further.

"Damn you." Kakashi chuckled again as she sighed. "So I guess this is the last week I have with Team Seven." She eventually grumbled. Kakashi blinked at her.

"You sound unhappy."

"I'm always unhappy." Rae snapped back. She then slumped slightly. "But I've realized that serving ramen is extremely... _boring_. Doing D-ranks with your band of weirdoes was much more interesting." She sighed and shook her head. "Oh well. You guys can still come for ramen every once in a while. And I never did invite you to follow me when I jog..." She glowered pointedly at Kakashi, who only smiled back. "But... Hm." She huffed, turning away. "Whatever."

"That was the friendliest invitation to bother someone I've ever gotten." Kakashi said cheerfully. Rae punched his arm.

"Damn you." She growled. Kakashi rolled his eye.

"If you do that long enough maybe I'll eventually bruise." He muttered.

"I'll remember that." Rae retorted. But then she spotted her starting point and Kakashi vanished with a friendly wave and a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Kakashi sighed in barely-suppressed boredom as he flipped a page in his book, leading his team down the street to the Hokage Tower. He hadn't had a D-rank since he was five, but this past month reminded him just how horribly _tedious_ it was waiting for something better to do. Of course, if Rae was right (and she usually was when it came to Naruto) then the boy could snap any day. Kakashi had seen the pent-up frustration himself when they had been working on D-ranks this week, and he inwardly mused it wouldn't be long now.

"Neh, Kakashi-sensei?" Kakashi briefly glanced from his book to Naruto and back again.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"Rae-chan's not gonna be with us after this week..." Kakashi looked a bit longer at Naruto to see his melancholy look. He shrugged.

"It's not like she's going anywhere, Naruto." Kakashi reminded him. "Rae-san's simply not going to go anywhere with _us_."

"Doesn't that _bother_ you though, sensei?" Kakashi inwardly sighed as Naruto looked up with sad eyes. "I'd always thought of Rae-chan as part of the team!" Kakashi simply shook his head.

"She never was." He said simply, putting his book away in his pocket. "But she was definitely... interesting... to have around." Kakashi chuckled as he remembered all those times he could get Rae to eventually snap and she would go off on a tirade in her odd language. Sasuke really did get a kick out of that too.

"Yeah, you made Rae-chan really mad." Naruto agreed, grinning up at Kakashi. "I don't think she could talk to you even once without trying to kill you!" Kakashi coughed.

"Thank you, Naruto..."

"But when Rae-chan goes back to Ichiraku's, we can all go get ramen more often, right? Right?" Kakashi looked at Naruto's eager and pleading face for a long moment.

"... Maa... Sure." He finally said, shrugging and looking away. Naruto whooped, and up ahead Rae looked back curiously.

"What's up, hero?" She asked. Naruto only shrugged innocently.

"Nothing!" Rae rolled her eyes.

"Whatever." She huffed and turned back to the front. Naruto snickered under his breath, then eventually sighed.

"Are we gonna get another D-rank, Kakashi-sensei?" He grumbled. Kakashi nodded.

"Don't feel too bad, Naruto." He said casually. "Some genin don't get anything but D-ranks for months."

_Months._

_MONTHS._

_**MONTHS.**_

The word seemed to ring in Naruto's head as his jaw dropped in horror and his eyes widened. But then they reached the Hokage tower and Kakashi and Rae greeted the Hokage formally. The Hokage nodded back, pulling out a familiar scroll with 'D' written over it.

"Well, Team Seven." The Sarutobi said, looking them all over. "Today there's a man that wants help with his son moving out... Or perhaps a weeding job today at-"

"_MONTHS_?" Naruto suddenly shouted in horror, dropping to his knees and clutching at his hair. "I CAN'T TAKE _MONTHS_ OF _THIS_!" He cried. Kakashi sweat dropped as he realized his words from earlier had just sunken in. He sighed and slumped.

_I'm so going to get chewed out for this._ He thought miserably. But the older man was looking at Naruto oddly.

"Naruto," He said in confusion. "What _are_ you talking about?" Naruto stood and pointed at him accusingly.

"Oji-san!" He yelled. "You're going to just stick us with D-ranks for the rest of our lives, aren't you?" The Hokage seemed to sweat.

"No, I-"

"NARUTO!" Naruto cringed and looked at Iruka, who had just come up behind the Hokage. "Dammit Naruto!" Iruka snapped. "If the Hokage gives you D-ranks then you _take_ the D-ranks! All genin get D-ranks!" Then Iruka settled into a long explanation of the ranking and mission system, during which Naruto sighed and turned to Kakashi.

"You really think we'll get months of D-ranks?" He whimpered. Kakashi sighed.

"Probably."

"But I don't _want_ to!"

"There's very little in being a ninja in doing what you want, Naruto." The man said in exasperation. Rae snorted as she walked up to Naruto.

"Didn't I say that you'd have to work for C-ranks, hero?" She asked with a smirk. "Big fat 'I told you so'."

"Rae-_chan_!"

"HEY! Pay attention!" All three cringed and turned to Iruka, who looked as though he'd blow his top. Naruto scowled.

"Yeah, well you're always going on about boring stuff, Iruka-sensei!" He finally snapped. "But I don't need that crap anymore! I'm a shinobi now! I became one to protect all of Konoha and surpass every Hokage, and I can't do that without a proper chance at proving myself!" Rae smirked as Iruka's face slowly settled into a smile and the Hokage nodded thoughtfully, smiling himself.

"Well... Okay." He said easily, and Rae perked up along with the rest of the team. The Hokage nodded at Rae's expectant look. "A C-rank came in this morning." He said thoughtfully. "A protection mission. If you really think you can handle it..."

"Definitely, Oji-san!" Naruto exclaimed, standing up a little taller and beaming at him. The Hokage chuckled.

"It seems you were right, Kuroda-san." He said thoughtfully, and Naruto looked back curiously to a smirking Rae.

"And never happier, Hokage-sama." She said in triumph. The Hokage nodded, then made a motion at a nearby door. "Well, come in then." He called.

"What a bunch of brats..." A stocky man with a bottle of sake in his hand came up and looked over the team with a critical eye. "Are they really shinobi?" The man demanded of the Hokage, who only sighed.

"You betcha, ossan!" Naruto declared. "We're Team Seven!" The man rolled his eyes.

"Looks more like a daycare with pointy weapons to me." He growled. "Or some kind of illegitimate family. The man certainly looks like he could do better." He seemed to mutter the last part under his breath, and Rae turned the most interesting shade of purple.

"Damn you!" She snarled, about to rush forward before Kakashi sighed and grabbed her arms. She struggled in his grip, snarling at the man. "You damned sake-drinking frumpy old couch potato!" She snapped. "Just wait till I get my hands on you and a rusty spoon! I'll carve out your abused liver! I'll give you a CAT scan with a kunai! I'll-"

"Rae-san!" Both Kakashi and Iruka snapped. Rae felt the grip on her arms shift and Kakashi shoved her to the ground, leaning a hand on her head.

"Don't kill our first protection client." He scolded, and Rae scowled up at him before turning away with a huff.

"I never said I'd kill him. Just disembowel him." She muttered, sitting in a rather undignified fashion on the ground. The man looked rather pale as he looked between Kakashi and Rae.

"Is she... on the team?" He seemed rather nervous. Rae glowered at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She growled. Kakashi sighed heavily.

"No." The man breathed out in obvious relief.

"Good." He straightened and looked at the three genin. "My name is Tazuna, and I'm a bridge builder." He said shortly. "And I expect full protection from you for when I get back to my country and complete my bridge."

* * *

"So I want you to listen to Kakashi... no matter how much of an ass he can be."

"Fine."

"And make sure you don't kill the duck butt over something stupid."

"I'll try."

"And you better eat vegetables _every day_."

"Rae-chan!" Naruto finally scowled at Rae. "I'll be _fine_, really! You're embarrassing me!" Rae rolled her eyes and motioned towards his team members and the client standing beside the open gate. She'd arrived that morning to see off the team and, after a scathing glare at Tazuna, she'd immediately grabbed Naruto aside to nag him.

"They aren't listening." She said shortly. "And I know you'll forget, especially about the vegetables."

"Rae-chan," Naruto snapped again, but then he suddenly grabbed Rae in a hug. "I'll be _fine_." He repeated. "I'll miss you too." Rae slowly ruffled his hair.

"Stupid little otouto." She murmured, leaning down to hug him. "I'm just worried, you know."

"It's only a C-rank, Rae-san." Rae and Naruto looked up to see Kakashi appear in his usual poof of smoke. Sakura, Sasuke and Tazuna looked up from their seats and glared.

"You're late!" They snapped. Kakashi shrugged.

"Well, there was..." There was a long silence as they waited for the man to finish. "... But as I was saying, Rae-san." Kakashi said instead, turning to Rae and ignoring the looks on the team's faces. "Just a simple protection mission. The worst we can run into are thieves and bandits." Naruto nodded beside him.

"Yeah, Rae-chan! Just like beating up idiots on the way home!" He said enthusiastically, giving Rae a thumbs up. Rae turned towards the suddenly awkward-looking Tazuna and gave him the harshest glare possible. The man cringed.

"For your sake, Tazuna-san," Rae hissed slowly. "There had better be nothing but _truth_ to my otouto's words. If he comes back with _one scratch _on him I'll freaking _castrate_ you myself, different country or _not_." Tazuna blanched and swallowed hard as Kakashi rolled his eye.

"Don't worry so much, Rae-san." He said in amusement. "You're more paranoid than most ninja. I'm still a jounin, after all; I'll make sure they're safe." Rae twitched and scowled at him.

"Let's hope so." She muttered darkly, giving Naruto's head one last ruffle before pushing him towards the other genin. The team waved back at Rae as they began to walk out the gate and she hesitated. If anything went wrong with this, if the changes Rae had been making so far were too drastic, then they could easily get killed in any number of ways that circumstance had favored them in before.

"Wait!" Rae slapped a hand over her mouth as they turned to look at her curiously. "Just..." She shook her head slowly. "Just watch your back." She finally called. Naruto rolled his eyes and gave a final wave before cheering about leaving the village for the first time, eager for his new mission.

Rae watched them disappear into the forest before slowly turning and walking back towards the town, hoping that this all wasn't a mistake.

* * *

"Rae-san! It's good to have you back!"

"Ah, Teuchi-san... It's good to be back." Rae nodded at the man as she shook his hand. Teuchi chuckled.

"Did you enjoy your time with the team?" He asked, motioning for Rae to come around the counter to the back. The woman sighed and nodded.

"They were all a bunch of weirdoes, but it was still fun." She commented lightly. She then nearly into a girl a few years younger and blinked. "Ayame?" Teuchi's daughter blinked.

"Rae-san!" She exclaimed. "You're back!"

"And you're... here?" Rae looked back to Teuchi who coughed.

"Ayame's job at the dango shop... ended a few days ago." He said sheepishly. "I hired her; I hope you don't mind..."

"Not at all." Rae held up a hand and tried to give a semi-friendly expression to the girl. "I'll be a pleasure to work with you."

"Thank you, Rae-san." Ayame said pleasantly. "I know I didn't know you that well, but I hope we can be friends." Rae shrugged.

"Sure. I'm not the friendliest person alive, though." She said, leaning slightly on the bar. "But I can try." Ayame nodded thoughtfully.

"By the way, where is Naruto?" She asked and Teuchi also looked at Rae curiously. Rae grimaced.

"He's on a C-rank to Wave." She replied. "He'll be back in a few weeks."

"I was just telling Ayame," Teuchi said, smiling at the girl. "How you were with Team Seven for the past month." Ayame nodded eagerly.

"Are you a ninja, Rae-san?" She asked. Rae shook her head.

"Not at all." Ayame seemed a little down, but then perked up.

"Isn't Team Seven led by Hatake Kakashi?" She asked curiously. Rae cast her a sideways look, confused by her eager expression.

"Yes...?" She said slowly.

"Do you think he'll be coming by? … With the team, of course." Rae almost snickered, but instead smirked down at the younger girl.

"Ayame, do you actually _like_ that lazy asshole?" Ayame flushed.

"He's an accomplished ninja!" She protested hotly. "And he's very attractive!" Rae was honestly confused at that.

"... Ayame." She said slowly. "He wears a mask. Ninety-five percent of his entire body is covered by loose clothing. You see exactly eighty-five percent of his face: one eye. _One_ little eye... and eyebrow." Rae pointed to her own right eye in demonstration. "He's a good ninja, I'll give him that. But he's late to team meetings, he gives retarded excuses for _everything_, he's a fan of _smut_." Rae paused in her list and tilted her head slightly. "Not that I'm much better in that sense, I'll say that now. But he's lazy, annoying, and just plain _irritating_." She grumbled under her breath at the thought. "And there seems to be little else to do with his life than to piss me off." Ayame looked at Rae oddly.

"It sounds like you don't like him." She said thoughtfully.

"No shit, Sherlock." But Ayame only looked even more confused at that and Rae sighed. "Never mind. The point is, yeah, he'll probably come around. If only to make my life miserable." The girl giggled slightly at that.

"Why would he do that?" Rae scowled and looked away.

"... I lose my temper easily." She eventually admitted. "I try to be less... silly... when I do, but I end up saying stupid things and doing even stupider things." Ayame laughed and Rae's scowl deepened. "It's not funny." She growled, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her book. She hadn't been able to read Icha Icha Violence in weeks, and now she was quite eager to return to see what Akiko would do about Nao...

"What book is that?" Ayame asked suddenly and Rae flushed as Teuchi made a sound in the back of his throat.

"I know it's not my business what you read, Rae-san." He said quickly. "But I would appreciate you not exposing my daughter to... that." Rae nodded, flipping a page in her book.

"Hai, Teuchi-san." Ayame looked confused.

"To what?"

"Not allowed to tell."

"Aw, Tou-san!"

"_No_."

* * *

See? I didn't forget about Ayame! I know she isn't really displayed as having a crush on Kakashi until the infamous episode 101, but it's understandable. ... I say that even as Rae described all the logical reasons for people to not like him. So let me rephrase: Ayame is just like me and every fangirl in the world. No one's proven it, but we all _know_ Kakashi is damn sexy under all that clothing! His mask is only the beginning!

... *ahem* Right.

And guess what! Weee... aaare... ENDING THIS ARC! ... Yeah, it was kind of short. But next is the Wave Arc! Yes, they're still going on the mission. And because we all know what happens in the manga and I'm really sick of seeing recap after recap, we will only see bits and pieces of it next chapter. I'm still a little sketchy on it, but before Sousie disappeared off the face of all things wi-fi and virtual they gave it the okay, so I guess it's ready!

Have a bad cough. Making me tired and crabby. _But_, as a little side note, I made a treat for everyone who actually seems to enjoy this story! Weirdoes.

The treat? I call it... **Farblondzhet**. Yiddish for hopelessly lost. I don't know why it appealed to me so much, but there you go. It's another story containing the unhappy, grumpy Rae and this time featuring Kakashi over everyone else. And for those of you that haven't heard, this story is going to be eventual KakashixRae, but just not for a very long while. So I made a story more based on a pairing that I myself am getting a little too attached to. It's a humorous story I really don't want to be taken seriously. Here's a summary:

**Hatake Kakashi wasn't sure how he ended up here, in a world with machines that roared as they moved and exploded and flew and people that spoke languages he'd never heard of. But he did know that the only connection he had to his own world was the apartment he landed in, the book he found, and the cantankerous young woman that wants nothing to do with the strange man that invaded her home. Too bad he isn't giving her a choice. Aberration in reverse; a short series in the modern adventures of the ninja and his reluctant host. KakashixRae.**

... Well? Interested? Bored out of your mind? Wishing Rin would just shut up and post her chapters? Let me know either way!

Peace out!

PS: For those who read Eclipse as well, a note to why I'm not updating: I really am trying. But the first chapter was something I wrote, looked back at, and actually _loved_. There are very few times my writing is something I myself enjoy. The bell test a few chapters back is one of them. So now I'm trying to write a second chapter that will actually compare to the first, and it's consisting of me, rewriting and rewriting and thinking: WHY.

Yeah. I'm gonna just leave now.


	13. Unexpected Visitors

Someone told me I was neglecting Sasuke. This is... kind of true. Mostly because a: I am not a fan of Sasuke and b: ... I just suck. I have to tell you now, I am _not_ here to bash the little emo butt. Really! I want this story to be semi professional, and I'm not here to bash _any_ characters! If it seems that way, please let me know!

And I do actually have to start characterizing Sasuke soon. Because personally I felt that he had little to no personality until the Chunin Exams, so in the arc following the Wave Arc (I call it... pre-Chunin Arc :O) we shall have Sasuke character. Actual, authoress-attempted characterization of the duck butt! Without bashing (except from Rae, but she's always bashing other characters- has anyone else noticed that?) and as realistic I can make it. Let's face it, canon Sasuke is just a plain ass. Like, not even worthy of being the behind of an ass ass. And he's crazy. And completely retarded. The shippuden series should have just been called Sasuke.

But you aren't here to watch me rant about how I think Kishimoto took a perfectly creative idea like ninjas and ninjutsu and tailed demons and turned it into the most retarded series (because he _did_) so let me just assure you that Sasuke _will_ get his moments. In fact, to show you all, I took out a mini section I had put in with Rae and instead put a Sasuke drabble! The Rae one was kind of stupid anyway and OOC, so I just put in Sasuke.

Enjoy.

* * *

Kakashi sighed heavily as he walked down the path, his team and their client in front of them and Sakura asking no end of questions about the Land of Wave.

"So there won't be any enemy shinobi?" Sakura eventually concluded from his previous explanation. Kakashi eye-smiled and patted her head. His students were just so cute sometimes.

"Nah, like we told Rae-san. Just bandits or thieves. Stuff like this usually ends with us finishing the entire thing without a single fight." He said lightly, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Tazuna looking away much like he had when he'd said the same thing to Rae.

And Rae's entire face has screamed 'dirty little liar' when she'd growled at him, too.

Rae had seemed more than worried that morning at the gate, but she'd looked rather helpless as well. Kakashi had initially concluded that she was just worried that Naruto was leaving the village, but... She had actually been more upset at Tazuna than upset at the Hokage. Rae had apparently had a hand in them finally having their first C-rank, after all, so there seemed to be something else...

Then the group walked past a small puddle on the side of the road and a cold feeling lodged in the jounin's stomach. It hadn't rained for weeks. There was no body of water for miles around. There was no reason for a puddle, especially one that radiated mostly-suppressed chakra, to be anywhere _near _here except for an ambush by a jutsu user. Kakashi slowed his pace slightly, setting him apart from the rest of the group, and waited patiently as he discreetly molded his chakra in preparation of a jutsu.

_There!_

A small flare appeared behind him, and Kakashi knew that the enemy was about to make its move. His eye widened as sharp metal chains then wrapped around him, two shinobi on either side of him and holding the end of each chain.

"What?"

"The hell!"

"Sensei!"

"One down." Kakashi immediately released the chakra and replaced himself with a branch as the two tugged, ripping the branch to shreds. The jounin crouched in a nearby tree and watched as his students cried out in surprise. He quickly picked out the details of his attackers. Mist-nin, odd head décor; likely the Demon Brothers of the Mist. Only B-rank in his bingo book, and for them to not notice the kawarimi immediately confirmed their level, but Kakashi still watched with a hint of anxiety as they flashed behind his genin team.

"Two down." But then Naruto ducked in a crouch and kicked his foot out behind him, causing the two to jump back as Sasuke appeared and stuck the chain to a nearby tree with a well-placed kunai and shuriken. The Demon Brothers' eyes widened as they tugged on the chain, only for Sasuke to land on top of them just as Naruto pulled out two kunai and made an odd whirling motion as he charged in between them.

Leaning forward from Sasuke's weight, the enemy shinobi were sliced across their shoulders by the kunai and were further shoved into the move by Sasuke leaning forward and kicking them backwards. The brothers recovered quickly, releasing the chains and immediately splitting as they dashed back not to Sasuke and Naruto, but towards Tazuna. Kakashi's eye narrowed as he watched Sakura jump in front of the client with her own kunai out, only for Naruto and Sasuke to stand in front of her as the two nin charged forward.

Then Kakashi jumped out from his place and grabbed the two by their necks, halting their progress and startling his team. Naruto and Sakura beamed in relief as Sasuke snorted. Tazuna let out a breath of relief himself.

"Very well done, team." Kakashi complimented. "Excellent teamwork Naruto and Sasuke; and Sakura, good job protecting the client." The genin seemed elated at the praise (even Sasuke in his own impassive way) and Tazuna looked at Naruto uneasily.

"You're not... hurt... are you?" He asked carefully, looking up and down the boy as though he'd keel over on the spot. Kakashi inwardly chuckled and wondered if he should tell Tazuna that, no, Rae wasn't a ninja and was very incapable of upholding her threat to him over Naruto's health.

… _Nah._ But there was another matter to discuss. Naruto waved off Tazuna's concern as Kakashi looked at the bridge-builder sternly.

"I believe, Tazuna-san," He said lightly, though with a dark undertone. "That we need to have a _talk_."

* * *

Sasuke couldn't help but stare at his teacher even as the tall man radiated killing intent. He thought he had the man pinned down- lazy, perpetually-late jounin that didn't seem to care about much else than his little orange book. But now he was facing down an S-class missing-nin with the same evenness as angry civilians, hitai-ate revealing an eye that spoke far more than he could hope to understand.

All this time he had been so close to the Sharingan… All these weeks he was on the same team as the last man in Konoha that could possibly hope to help him unravel its secrets! Did the jounin not understand what it meant to him? Did he not care?

"Don't worry, Sasuke." He didn't realize he was shaking, but the killing intent from the mist was freezing him up and all he could do was clench his fists. Kakashi turned his head, both eyes curved in that same, ridiculous smile. "I won't let my comrades die." But somehow it was comforting to him, knowing that the man was there. He wasn't strong enough for this kind of enemy- But he would be someday.

And as he watched Kakashi unleash a power he had once only dreamed of obtaining, he knew with this man on his side there was still a chance.

* * *

Kakashi's eye snapped open and he let out a loud sneeze, startling the three genin as they jumped back from him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed as Sakura growled something under her breath and looked away with a scowl.

"Oh, you're awake!" An unfamiliar woman exclaimed as she walked through the door. Kakashi slowly took in his surroundings as he sat up and held a hand to his face, trying to get a grasp on the horrible feeling that he was forgetting something.

Zabuza was dead; Kakashi himself had checked. Downed by a combination of Kakashi's own Sharingan use and Naruto and Sasuke's teamwork. And that hunter-nin that had appeared and killed him with...

… Senbon?

"Kakashi-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto asked curiously at the look on Kakashi's face. The jounin hmmed in thought.

"Well... Hunter-nins usually dispose of the one they killed right on the spot..." He made a vague motion with his hand, inwardly cursing himself for not seeing earlier. "But how did he dispose of Zabuza?"

"He took Zabuza with him, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura reminded him. "How should we know?"

"Exactly." Kakashi stared ahead in thought. "If he'd wanted to prove his kill, he would have just taken the head. Not to mention what he killed him with..." He could see Sasuke immediately understood, jerking to the jounin in astonishment.

"No way." He stated, eyes wide. Kakashi sighed and nodded.

"Yep."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tazuna demanded. The silver-haired man sighed again, scratching the back of his head; this was turning out to be quite a mission.

"Zabuza is most likely still alive."

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Kakashi couldn't help but somewhat enjoy the looks on everyone's faces as they processed this. Except for the woman who had a puzzled frown on her own face.

"The hell, sensei?" Naruto demanded. Sakura nodded, glaring at her teacher.

"You checked yourself!" She cried. "You said he was dead!"

"Yeah..." Kakashi rubbed at his nose. "But that was probably just a temporary death. Senbon aren't usually used for killing an opponent," He explained at the affronted looks on their faces. "They're usually used by doctors for acupuncture and, for those with the best aim, for stopping limbs. But a hunter-nin would know exactly where on the human body to strike with a senbon to put them in a death-like coma. Besides," He held up two fingers, tapping each one as he spoke. "The nin _carried_ _away_ Zabuza's body instead of disposing of it, and he used a weapon that isn't usually for killing. We can not ignore the possibility of him not trying to kill Zabuza, but to save him."

"You're even more paranoid than that dark girl." Tazuna grumbled, though he seemed a bit more than nervous. "You said hunter-nin's _kill_ missing-nin's. Not save them."

"And Rae-san was correct about her own suspicions for this mission." Kakashi reminded him, smirking slightly when Tazuna flinched and looked over at Naruto again nervously. He probably felt lucky that the boy's injuries from Zabuza had healed so quickly. "Had she come on the mission with those suspicions, she would have prepared for such. It's a shinobi rule to always prepare before it is too late." Kakashi looked over his team, gaze resting on the trembling Naruto with an eager grin on his face.

_Eager little guy…_ Sakura looked at Kakashi curiously.

"But sensei, you can barely move. How can you prepare?" The jounin shrugged.

"I can still teach you guys a few things." He said with an eye-smile. Sakura scowled.

"What can you teach us to fight against _that_?" She demanded, waving a hand irritably. "Even _you_ had problems defeating Zabuza! And with a Sharingan!"

"There's always gonna be stronger people, Sakura." The room turned and blinked at Naruto, who was looking outside the window thoughtfully. "But that's why we have a team," He continued, turning and grinning at Kakashi. "Because we can't always save everyone by ourselves! Right sensei?" Kakashi chuckled and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Did Rae tell you that?" Naruto beamed.

"Yeah! Right after the first time she saved me! I was really upset that she almost got hurt, so I promised I'd be stronger so I could save her someday! I still owe her, after all." Naruto looked down for a moment, then looked back at the jounin curiously. "So what did you have in mind for training?" He asked eagerly. Kakashi leaned back a bit.

"Well, this is just for while I get better," He reminded them. "You're still genin, after all; you still can't handle Zabuza without me. But if we're right then his condition will be... less than favorable for him for a while."

"So we'll get stronger!" Naruto declared, turning and grinning at his team. "This'll be great!"

"Idiots..." Naruto stopped short and looked back curiously at a small child with scowling eyes under his hat.

"Inari!" Tazuna exclaimed as the boy clambered towards him. "I've missed you!"

"Inari, say hello." The woman said; Kakashi decided she must have been his mother. "These are the ninja that protected Grandpa." Inari turned and glowered at them all, then sniffed and turned back to his mother.

"They're going to die." Kakashi sighed and held his head in his hands as Naruto seemed to explode, Sakura holding him back from killing the boy.

"You wanna say that to my face?"

"Naruto! He's just a kid!"

"Let go, Sakura! I oughta teach him a lesson!"

"He's _just_ a _kid_! Don't get so pissed off like that!" Inari seemed ignorant to Naruto's apparent attempts to teach him a lesson.

"There's no way you'll win against Gatou." He said in a low voice, still glaring at Naruto. Naruto finally got Sakura to release him and glowered right back.

"Yeah, well, I'll show you!" He snapped. "My name's Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage! And I'll be the greatest hero in all the Shinobi Nations! This Gatou has nothing on me!"

"Stupid!" Inari finally snapped, tiny fists clenched at his sides. "There's no such thing as heroes!" That seemed to stop Naruto dead in his tracks as he stared incredulously at the boy, who turned back towards the door.

"Inari?" Tazuna asked curiously.

"I'm... going to look at the ocean." The boy said shortly, not looking back. Naruto watched silently before turning his back.

"... Naruto...?" Sakura asked worriedly. Naruto's own fists were clenched.

"No such thing as heroes." He spat. "I'll show him! I'll become stronger and protect him anyway, and he'll acknowledge me a hero! Believe it!" Naruto shook his head and turned to Kakashi. "Now when can we start training?" He demanded. Kakashi smiled under his mask.

"Well, there's actually a second step of chakra control..." The three genin perked up as Kakashi smirked. "How'd you like to learn to walk on water?"

* * *

"Welcome to Ichiraku's, may I take your order?" Rae said in a dull monotone, not looking up from her book. Ayame shot the girl a look and smiled at the man.

"Hello, Iruka-san!" She said with a friendly wave, and Rae looked up to see Iruka smiling at her. She nodded at him.

"Iruka-san. What do you want?"

"Rae-san!" Ayame still couldn't figure out why the girl was so... antisocial. She was courteous enough, but when it came to simple talk she skipped through the chit chat and cut right down to business. After a week and half with her, she was starting to realize that Rae hadn't exactly been kidding when she said that she wasn't the friendliest of people. But Iruka seemed to be unaffected by her attitude, nodding. Maybe it was just civilians that were insulted, then?

"Hokage-sama wishes to see you, Rae-san." He said. Rae sighed heavily.

"... Now?"

"Yes." The chunin merely seemed amused as she grumbled under her breath and put her book away.

"I think I've been to the Hokage Tower more times these past months than Naruto has his entire life." She muttered darkly, and Iruka chuckled as they walked up to the receptionist.

"Probably." He agreed. He then gave a friendly wave as Rae walked through the halls and knocked on the door, entering after a moment.

"You wanted to see me, Hokage... sama..." Rae trailed off as her eyebrow twitched at the man beside the desk.

_That. That man._

Rae simply stared with a scowl and a twitching eyebrow as the man looked her up and down before turning to the third with a raised eyebrow.

"This is the girl?" He asked incredulously. "Not too bad looking, I'll give her that. But-" The Hokage coughed.

"Rae-san, I suppose you know who this is?" He asked mildly, and Rae nodded, still scowling.

"Jiraiya." She grumbled. "The ero-sennin." Jiraiya seemed affronted by this.

"Girl, I'm not just a pervert," He exclaimed. "I'm a-"

"Super pervert, yes, yes." Rae rubbed the back of her ear and looked demandingly at the Hokage as Jiraiya slumped over. "Do I really have to meet him, Hokage-sama?" She asked, trying to keep the pleading note out of her voice. Not that she had any personal against the old guy (he was her favorite author, after all), she was just... uncomfortable around self-proclaimed perverts. Especially ones with his peeping-tom habits. Sarutobi sighed.

"Yes, Rae-san. You do." He said sternly, chuckling as Rae made a small whimper in the back of her throat. "I've just finished telling Jiraiya of you." He continued. "This seemed like a good time to finish your promised explanation of his investigations." Rae straightened in understanding.

"And to be honest, girl, I'm not quite sure that I would trust your word." Jiraiya inserted, crossing his arms. "You telling us that the old snake bastard will invade the chunin exams and that Uchiha Madara is still alive is pretty fishy." Rae nodded.

"Very." She agreed. Jiraiya continued.

"And saying that Madara has some sort of plan to put the world under an infinite genjutsu using the moon."

"Absolutely."

"And that he's using some sort of organization called Akatsuki... Which you claim to be lead by a man named Pein." Here Rae cringed, and the Hokage looked at her oddly.

"Do you wish to reaffirm that statement, Rae-san?" He asked, and Rae bit her lip.

"Pein... that isn't his real name." She said, looking away. "I didn't really tell you that much about him the first time, but now..." Rae couldn't quite bring herself to look at Jiraiya. "He's a user of the Rinnegan. His real name is-"

"Nagato." Jiraiya whispered, pale. He glared at Rae. "That," He ground out. "Is a very, very bold claim to make. I'm fairly sure you know what you're claiming _exactly_." Rae nodded, finally looking at Jiraiya.

"Your so-called child of prophesy." Here Jiraiya took a visible step back as Sarutobi seemed confused.

"What's she talking about, Jiraiya?" He asked, but Jiraiya didn't even look at him as Rae sighed, rubbing her arm.

"You probably thought he was dead. All of them." She said, not needing to see the man nod. "And one of them _is_ dead. Ya... Ummm..." Rae reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook, flipping through the pages. "Oh. Yahiko." She tapped the page thoughtfully as Jiraiya made a noise in the back of his throat. "Nagato wanted peace so badly, he decided that if he had the power of the bijuu, he could establish himself as a high power above the others." She continued, then looked down at her notebook again. "Akatsuki didn't used to be made of a bunch of criminals. It was Yahiko's organization to bring peace, made up of a bunch of Amegakura-nin. When they were ambushed by some guy named Hanzo with Danzo's support, Yahiko was killed and Nagato went... nuts." Rae concluded, nodding at Jiraiya's open-mouthed gape.

"I think you know about Akatsuki," She continued. "So you understand that they're going after the bijuu. What you probably don't know is that their plan is divided into three parts. One: Get enough money and support. With a bunch of S-class missing-nins all wanting this promised world domination and some bounty hunting, this part is fairly simple. The second part is creating their own mercenary group that would have the strength of the bijuu behind them; making a kind of monopoly in the Shinobi market. The third part is actually rather simple." Rae sighed as she looked up and met Jiraiya's eyes. "Akatsuki would soon be the last major force of shinobi in existence. They would invade all five nations with little resistance, dominating them all in one world. One big, peaceful country."

There was a long, collective silence as the two took this in. Jiraiya slowly leaning against the desk as Rae fidgeted slightly.

"... Are you sure?" Jiraiya finally managed. Rae sent him a withering look, but then sighed and looked away.

"Actually, I only managed to see them until they'd gotten seven out of the nine bijuu." She admitted. "I don't know how it plays out after that. All I know is that Madara managed to take over Akatsuki's leadership after Nagato... well, he met Naruto." She smirked. "There's a reason I gave him that book, Hokage-sama." She said to the old man. The Sandaime looked at Jiraiya in confusion.

"Perhaps you could answer that then, Jiraiya." He said. "Rae claims that the book 'The Legend of the Gutsy Ninja' is quite important to Pein's eventual invasion of Konoha." Jiraiya looked at Rae with wide eyes then turned back to his teacher.

"And old prophecy given to me by the Toad Sage." He said shortly. "A book I wrote was mentioned. You gave it to Naruto?" Rae shrugged.

"Might as well know who he was named after." She said casually. "He always says now he wants to be a great hero just like him." Jiraiya looked away at that, a smile on his face.

"Does he, now..." He murmured. Rae nodded.

"Ever since he was nine. He still carries that book with him everywhere." Jiraiya chuckled.

"I see." He then glanced at Rae appraisingly. "And I suppose you're a fan of my other books?" He asked with a grin on his face. Rae flushed and looked away.

"That- You- Bah!" Her hand twitched to the pocket that contained Icha Icha Violence and she crossed her arms, glowering at nothing in particular. "... Hm." The man laughed at that.

"There's no shame in that!" He declared. "It's a popular series! I'm actually already thinking up a third book!" Rae unwillingly twitched her gaze to Jiraiya, looking guiltily thoughtful.

"... Really?" She asked meekly. Jiraiya grinned.

"My best work yet!" He promised. Sarutobi coughed.

"Moving on." He muttered. "The most immediate threat is Orochimaru. You say around some time..."

"Some time before the chunin exams he murders the Kazekage and masquerades as him." Rae confirmed. "Suna didn't know of this, but they honestly believe that they were following their kage's orders when they invade Konoha along with Oto. The seating arrangements during the third part..." Sarutobi nodded in understanding.

"Which is when Orochimaru would ambush me and pull me behind the barrier." Rae nodded.

"And you agreed to a fight with him that accomplished nothing but your death." She said, scowling. "Which _sucks_, by the way."

"... 'Sucks'?"

"... Never mind. I mean it's _bad_." Rae coughed. The Hokage hmmed.

"What would you recommend doing to prevent this?" He asked. Rae chewed her lip in thought, rubbing her arm.

"... I might have said to bring back Tsunade early," She finally said. "But the only reason she came back is because of Naruto convincing her to be the next Hokage. Naruto doesn't have any good reason to go find her now, and it probably wouldn't turn out for the best if he tried now." Sarutobi inclined his head.

"Go on." Rae hmmed.

"But if you attacked Orochimaru too early, then he'd run off and make a new plan, one that I wouldn't know anything about." She said, a frown on her face. "So it'd have to be as close to the original as possible. But..." Rae looked at the Hokage thoughtfully. "... But if you were to ambush Orochimaru when _he_ ambushes you," She said suddenly. "And you managed to kill him, it removes the threat of Sasuke defecting!" She said in excitement. The Hokage nodded thoughtfully.

"And how would I manage this if I were killed off the first time?" He asked.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Jiraiya suddenly demanded. "You're just an old man, sensei. If Orochimaru took me on along with you, I'm sure he'd have a hell of a lot more trouble!" Rae nodded in agreement.

"Orochimaru couldn't stand up to both Tsunade and Jiraiya at the same time, Hokage-sama." She pointed out. "If you were against him with Jiraiya, I'm fairly sure you could do it."

"And we can kick that snake bastard's ass once and for all!" Jiraiya finished, grinning at his teacher. "It's perfect!" Rae snickered and Jiraiya looked at her oddly.

"You looked just like Naruto then." She said, smirking. Jiraiya smirked back.

"Well, he is his father's son then!" He declared. "I'll bet he'll grow up just like his old man!"

"And the Yondaime is his favorite Hokage, too..." Rae mused before casting a sideways look towards the Sandaime. "No offense, Hokage-sama."

"None taken." Sarutobi said lightly. "Minato was a fine example of a shinobi, after all." Jiraiya grinned.

"Now, if that's all there is, I've been away from Konoha far too long." He said, stretching as he walked towards the door. "And I should research for my new book, after all!" Rae coughed and looked away as Sarutobi sighed heavily.

"Just don't get caught." He muttered wearily, rubbing his face. "You can't imagine how bad that makes me look." Rae shrugged.

"Probably as bad as when Naruto tells everyone you read Icha Icha Paradise." The Hokage looked at Rae with a start and she looked back innocently. "What?" She asked. "You didn't think he called you a closet pervert without a basis for his claims, did you?"

Jiraiya only laughed.

* * *

Naruto sputtered as he slowly crawled out of the small pond, spitting out the nasty water and shaking his head like a dog. Then he looked back and grinned proudly.

The water walking turned out to be much easier to get a grasp on than the tree climbing had been. When Naruto had commented such to Sakura and Sasuke, the only thing he's gotten was a 'hn' and Sakura's long explanation on how _of course_ it'd be easier, because the chakra control exercises were in steps and each step was... He'd stopped listening after that. Sakura was an okay girl and all, and she was kind of pretty, but she had a tendency to go on about things even worse than Iruka did sometimes.

A fine example being last night at the table when she'd brought up the torn photo in the living room.

Naruto had listened with wide eyes to Tazuna's story along with his team. It sounded a lot like his own relationship with Rae; except Naruto couldn't imagine someone killing Rae right in front of him like Gatou had done to Inari's father. He knew he'd want to tear them apart though, much like he wanted to do to the blonde-haired man after Rae had been in the hospital for so long, or to the drunk civilians that would attack them at night.

But Rae had always saved him. Always.

"Naruto?" Naruto looked up in surprise from where he was drying off his jacket to see Sakura coming up. He had known he'd have to prove to Inari that there were such things as heroes, so he'd taken it upon himself to be able to walk on water without even thinking about it. Keeping the same flow was hard, but he'd managed to stay standing on the water for twenty minutes straight that time.

"Yes, Sakura? What are you doing here?" He asked curiously. It was near midnight, after all. Sakura simply sighed.

"I was... kind of worried." She admitted quietly. "Kakashi-sensei said that if you trained too much you'd run out of chakra and would die..."

"Well, Kakashi-sensei doesn't know how sturdy I am!" Naruto declared, thumping his chest and grinning in reassurance at the girl. "I've gotta show Inari that there are heroes, Sakura." He continued in a more quiet voice. "He's just too hurt to see that."

"What Gatou did to him was terrible." Sakura agreed, sitting next to the blonde. "But I don't think he wants our help."

"Bah." Naruto huffed. "He probably thinks it's for his pride. But there's a difference between pride and stupidity! Rae-chan always told me that!" The pink-haired girl frowned in thought at that.

"Can I ask you something?" Naruto shrugged.

"Sure."

"Why does Rae-san always... I mean..." Sakura seemed unsure of how to put her question. "Why does-"

"Why does she like me when no one else does?" Naruto finished quietly, picking at his jacket. Sakura flushed.

"Well-"

"It's okay, Sakura. It's a good question." Naruto hmmed in thought, crossing his arms. "I'm not sure myself. I met her when I was eight, when the orphanage kicked me out." The girl flinched at that.

"But why-"

"People just don't like me." Naruto cut in. "Now don't interrupt if you want me to answer!" Sakura snapped her mouth shut as the blonde continued. "I was being chased by a couple of guys that were drunk a few days later, and I ran into an alley to hide. Then I heard something and turned around to see Rae-chan sitting behind the dumpster, looking at me kind of scared and holding herself like this." Naruto huddled in on himself in demonstration, looking at Sakura with wide eyes as though she'd hurt him. He then uncurled himself and sighed. "She asked me why I didn't go home, and I told her I didn't have one. She said that she didn't have one either. So she gave me her jacket and let me stay in the alley with her that night." Naruto frowned in thought. "And her shirt was all bloody, too! She said she just had a bad run in with someone; I think that was when she got her scar." Sakura stared at Naruto in disbelief.

"She was... homeless?" Naruto nodded.

"Yep! But she didn't seem to care too much! So she got a job at Ichiraku's the next day and gave me the rest of her food, then later that night I helped her pick out an apartment!" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Course, not everyone would let her in because she had me around. But she told me that being a friend to her meant something special, and that I was like her hero because she was lonely." Naruto nodded decisively. "After a month Oji-san gave me my own apartment and signed me up for the academy, and on my birthday she gave me the book 'Legend of the Gutsy Shinobi'! That night we got attacked and Rae beat up the bad guys. I asked her to teach me to fight like her, and she told me that she would only teach me because I was like her family!" Sakura seemed confused.

"But she said that she owed you," She said in bewilderment. "She said that she owed you her life." Naruto seemed equally confused.

"But I owe _her_!" He stated, looking at Sakura with wide eyes. "I owe her _everything_! She didn't have anything, and she gave me everything she had anyway! She told me she had a whole family once, and a nice life in a big house and real _parents_ and..." Naruto slowly drew his knees to his chest. "And she told me she missed them more than anything. But then she promised that she would stay in Konoha anyway, just for me." He shook his head. "I owe nee-chan my life, Sakura." He said softly. "That's why I can't leave her either."

Sakura only sat and wondered over what she'd heard. She could understand a little why Naruto seemed so close to Rae; it sounded like she'd been the only one that cared about him in the entire village for a long time. What she couldn't piece together was the thought of _Rae_, the dark, grouchy woman that seemed to hate people that she didn't know and grumbled about doing anything for other people, doing so much for one boy that she had met in an alley. Not to mention a boy that was hated throughout the entire village; Rae had probably risked a lot standing up for him all those years.

So why would Rae feel like she owed him? Naruto then yawned and found that he was rather tired, and Sakura agreed and led him back to the house, deciding that she would just have to ask Rae some other time.

They didn't notice the dark shadow that watched them with an unreadable expression before slipping away into the night.

* * *

"Welcome to Ichiraku's, what can I-"

"RAE-CHAN!" Rae had little time to do anything but pale dramatically as a bright green blur shot over the counter and grabbed her in a hug.

"Rae-chan!" Gai cried into Rae's shoulder. "I had heard that you are back at your work at this youthful establishment of eating! My team and I have decided to see you in repayment of my inexcusable actions weeks ago!" Rae slowly turned blue until Gai released her to see why she wasn't answering. She gasped in a breath and stared at him for a long time.

"... Gai." She seemed torn between horror and confusion. "... What are you talking about?" This proved to be the wrong thing to say as Gai scooped her up again.

"So forgiving that you had already forgotten!" He sobbed. "But of course when I allowed my eternal rival to snatch you away in such an unyouthful manner!"

"Eternal... unyouth- Oh." Rae slowly translated Gai's words in her head. When Kakashi had saved her. Right. "Uhhh... don't mention it. Ever. _Please_." For the first time, she was suddenly wishing the silver-haired jounin was around.

"Rae-san!" Then another green blur launched itself over the counter and joined Gai in his strangling-hugging of the dark-haired woman. "I had missed you!" Lee cried.

"Can't... breathe..."

"Gai-sensei! Lee! She's turning blue!" Gai and Lee immediately released Rae, who dropped to the ground as she attempted to catch her breath, immediately grateful for the interference. Rae slowly pulled herself up off the ground, holding onto the counter with shaky hands as she observed her savior.

A younger girl with brown hair pulled back in two buns was scolding the green beasts, next to her a dark-haired boy with cold, pale eyes. Rae scratched her head in thought as she picked up her book from the ground, stuffing it in her pocket.

_Ummm... Neji and... Six-six?_ But the girl then turned and smiled kindly at Rae, Gai and Lee looking properly chastised.

"You must be Kuroda Rae." The kunoichi said politely. "My name's Tenten. I'm sorry about Gai-sensei and Lee. They're just... overenthusiastic." The boy next to her huffed.

"In more ways than one." He muttered before Tenten nudged him in the side. He turned and stared at Rae flatly. "Hyuuga Neji." He said stiffly. Rae scowled at his superior attitude.

_Must not antagonize obviously stronger ninja. Must not antagonize obviously stronger ninja._

"... Nice to... meet you..." She grumbled, rubbing the back of her ear. "Can I get you anything?" Then Gai whirled and struck his 'nice guy' pose, making Rae cringe. Ayame was rather lucky that she had gotten the later shift; a weaker heart might have died from this.

"I had almost forgotten why we had come here!" Gai exclaimed in horror.

"Completely my own fault, Gai-sensei!" Lee cried. "I had forgotten myself to remind you!"

"Ah, but the blame is all mine-" Rae coughed and the two stood at attention. "Oh! Almost forgot again!" Gai sheepishly grinned before reaching for an odd object in his pack, holding it out. There was a long silence as he waited for Rae to respond, but she could only stare at the folded piece of green cloth.

"... Eh?" Gai's grin slowly dropped.

"You don't like it, Rae-chan?" He asked rather forlornly, looking like a kicked puppy. Rae cringed in horror.

"No! I love it! It's a… nice color!" She said quickly, and Gai perked up like nothing had happened. She sighed. "I just don't get it. What is it?"

"It is your very own training suit!" Lee exclaimed, helping his teacher unfold the cloth to reveal a long, one-piece suit much like the duo's own. "This part is my own gift!" He added, holding out a pair of… Sweet Kami.

_Orange legwarmers_?

"We are both inspired by your endeavor to become stronger, despite your handicap!" Gai declared as Rae forced her twitching fingers to hold the cloth and legwarmers in the air. "And we wish to present you with this token of our acknowledgement, along with our apologies!" Rae could feel her face twitching- it had to look ugly. Their thousand-watt grins never faded, however.

Tenten and Neji were looking away in bemusement though. The bloody little bastards.

"I… am honored." Rae finally managed, swallowing all the words she wanted to yell. Green was now her least favorite color. "But… This is too much." She folded it carefully back on the counter, setting the legwarmers on top of it. "Your apologies were completely unneeded." She said quickly at their bewildered looks, mind racing. "It… It was Kakashi's fault, after all! Right?" There was a contemplative hum from the two.

"I… suppose…" Gai mused, rubbing his chin.

"And you can't be expected to make up for _his_ shortcomings, right?" Rae managed a straight face at their simultaneous nods, even if they did look ridiculously like two evil henchmen.

It didn't help that she felt like the plotting villain. "That's his own job! And what do you do when your rival appears to be… slipping up?" Gai's face twisted in utter horror.

"But of course!" He shouted, throwing himself from the stand to strike a masterful pose. "These months of my own team has made me lax in the days of my glorious rivalry!" Rae didn't know if he had rehearsed it, but from her point of view the sun shone directly around his index finger. _Damn._ "This is UNACCEPTABLE! I shall go henceforth and challenge him until he has seen the error of his ways! Only then shall the Flames of Youth prevail over his 'too hip' and 'cool' attitude!" Lee didn't actually have much to say to that, but he did his best, striking a similar pose even with tears of pride welling in his eyes.

"Yosh!" He cried. "Gai-sensei!" Rae waved her arms frantically before the two could vanish with their freaky ninja speed.

"Wait!" She yelped. "His team is on a mission outside the village!" Both froze instantly.

"… Oh?" Gai settled into a thinking position. "And when do you estimate he will return?"

"In… a month, perhaps." Rae cleared her throat at their disappointed expressions. "But in the meantime it only gives you an opportunity to… carefully consider your choices." She nodded sagely. "You never know- Kakashi might have improved in some areas over the past few months. He's had to keep up with a bunch of genin himself."

"But of course-"

"So why don't you grab some ramen and start pondering your options." She said quickly before anything else could happen. Only to cringe in the next second as the two green beasts pulled her into another group hug, expressing how happy they were over her thoughtfulness through teary eyes.

Rae whimpered and looked helplessly at Tenten, who only sighed. "Actually, can I have some miso ramen Rae-san?" She asked, sitting on the stool. Rae nodded in relief as Gai and Lee released her to do her job.

"Sure. Anything else?"

"Vegetable ramen if you please, Rae-chan!"

"I as well!" Neji only sat on his stool silently.

* * *

I tried many times to add scenes that involved Neji and Tenten speaking more. This ended up somehow in Neji-bashing every single time. In the end I just had him sulk on his stool- I am sorry. I'm not here to bash him though- He'll get his character time. Just later. We're getting close to the Chunin exams, after all! ... Kind of.

Next chapter is going to be kind of... dark. I apologize now. So don't expect too much humor next chapter. And lately I've been kind of conflicted over my writing of Danzo- Because I need to have him in a certain place by a certain time, but honestly? I don't have that much information on him. So I'm off to Narutopedia in the meantime, but any facts that are probably less-known would be extremely helpful.

In other news, we're almost to four hundred reviews! Can you believe it! I swear when I posted this story I wasn't expecting more than _ten_ reviews, let alone one hundred! But now... Four hundred... TT

Man... I just... You guys can't even... *sob*

Random fact: I've made a total of four important OC's in my entire time here. One of which is the star of Aberration, obviously. Another is the background character here that never actually appears except in flashbacks. He's my favorite OC of them all. The third is from a story I will never post, but I love her to little bits. The fourth is a character from a story I haven't posted, but might in the far future. Far, far future.

Just remember this name: Ze'ev. Pronounced 'Ze-Hev'. Someday I will make plushies of this character. Or maybe a shimeji. He's just that awesome to me.

Peace out.


	14. Come and Go

Did I ever mention how happy your words about Rae make me in particular? I know you guys probably like her just because I tried to make her original, and I know I haven't actually shown much of her life other than she was living in Tokyo for a year and had both parents and a Narutard childhood friend, but just… wow. The interactions between her and Sakura are actually expositions to her character like you guys said, and it makes me squeal on the inside when you actually seem to understand her and still call her human- You have no idea how awesome that is for me.

And I encourage anyone who wants to make their own OC insert story- It _is_ possible to make an enjoyable one apparently! In fact, any story idea that has never been tried- Try it!

But on a less vague note, I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter- Gai and Lee are very enjoyable indeed, and I'm more than pleased that my brief action sequence didn't throw you guys off.

Now I'm about to throw away any respect I've earned. I hate dramatics, but this is dramatic. It makes me feel awkward, but enjoy anyway!

Seriously though. Enjoy.

* * *

"_Sasuke_!" Naruto stared with wide, trembling eyes at the figure hunched before him, blood pooling at his feet. This wasn't supposed to happen! He'd done everything right this morning; although it turned out that sleeping in was rather stupid on a mission, seeing how he'd awoken to find his team already gone to the bridge that morning. But it'd worked out at the very least for Inari. The boy's eyes held nothing but adoration when Naruto had saved him from the two goons.

Then Naruto had sped towards the bridge only to find Sasuke trapped in a ring of floating ice mirrors. It was a scenario that Rae might have disapproved, him jumping right in the middle just as a masked figure blurred towards Sasuke. But his fighting style meant being in the crossfire, and that was between Sasuke and the enemy.

It had turned out that deflection meant next to nothing against thin needles that would embed into his skin at contact and a blur that slammed into him before he could even think to block. Both he and Sasuke were overwhelmed by the nin's speed and weaponry, and then the last thing he remembered was the blur speeding for him one last time.

Sasuke slowly turned to Naruto, a soft smile on his bloodied face that made Naruto's gut clench in horror. "What's that look for...?" He coughed, the pool of blood reaching Naruto's feet as Sasuke swayed.

"_Why_?" Naruto choked out, staring at the multitude of needles protruding from Sasuke. A thoughtful look crossed the dark-haired boy's face.

"... Pfft." He turned his head forward again. "I hated you, you know..." Naruto shook his head.

"No... No!" He snarled at the boy. "Why the hell would you do that? Why would you do that for _me_?" Then Naruto's breath caught as he recognized the question. Rae would have done anything for him, too. What with her obvious similarities in personality and behavior to the dark boy in front of him, Naruto could suddenly see his sister figure standing in front of him, blood flowing because he hadn't been able to protect her. Again.

The thought made Naruto's blood run cold.

"I... I don't know..." Sasuke murmured. "I just... didn't think..." Then he swayed backwards as Naruto caught him, gently lowering him to the ground. His eyes fixed on Naruto, glazed and pleading. "My brother... I swore I wouldn't die until I killed him..." The blonde watched his eyes slowly close.

"Don't... die too..."

Tears spilled out of Naruto's eyes as he watched Sasuke slowly still his breathing. "You..."

"He didn't hesitate to die for you." Naruto head snapped to look at the mist nin, who was slowly standing. "He knew it was a trap; but people always do that for their precious people. That's what it means to be strong, after all. A shinobi willing to do that deserves respect." Naruto recognized Rae's words, and holding Sasuke's body suddenly made it all clear for him.

"This is your first death of a friend, isn't it?" The boy murmured behind his mask. "But it is simply the shinobi way of life-"

"Shut. Up." Naruto trembled as he lowered Sasuke to the ground. He'd hated Sasuke too, damn it all. But he'd sacrificed himself to save him, and somehow Naruto thought he might have done the same.

And now this enemy would pay for killing his friend.

"_**I'LL KILL YOU!**_"

* * *

Haku felt something icy shiver through his spine as he gazed upon the boy before him. He'd been rather hesitant in fighting these two; when he'd heard the blonde's story the other night, it was easy to see himself in him. Haku couldn't bring himself to hate them for being on the other side; it was their mentors, after all, that really spurred them into their respective lifestyles. It was no fault of their own.

But it was fate itself that brought them at such a clash. The boy slowly stood, an odd, red energy flowing from him and sending the needles from his body out like they'd been shot out from a machine, all previous wounds on the boy healing rapidly. The red chakra then spiraled all around the blonde, carving into the ground around him and molding above his head into that of the most terrifying mixture of demonic energy and killing intent Haku had ever seen or felt. Then he turned and met Haku's eyes, dark and masked to blood-red and slitted.

There was no doubt in his mind that this was a real demon.

Haku whipped out senbon as the chakra all merged back into the boy's body, Naruto turning and snarling as he crouched down before him.

_Here he comes!_ Haku nearly staggered as a wave of pure killer intent washed through him, then quickly threw the senbon directly at the boy. Naruto only swung his arm out in front of him in that odd deflect he'd tried before, and the Mist nin watched the needles fly in a different direction from the chakra swirled around his body. He jumped into another mirror, watching the blonde look momentarily disoriented.

Seeing his chance, Haku then leaped from the mirror and prepared another senbon, but then Naruto whirled and grabbed his outstretched arm from mid-air, demonic face twisted into a snarling grin.

Haku barely had time to process the thought that he'd failed Zabuza before his world was lost in a blur of pain.

* * *

Kakashi blurred through the seals, momentary panic forced down in the wake of his enemy. Naruto's weakened seal was troubling, but Zabuza was the more immediate threat. A weakened seal was still sealed, after all, and perhaps using the Kyuubi's chakra might save Naruto and Sasuke.

And he had faith in his old sensei, too. Slamming the scroll to the ground, Kakashi completed the jutsu, watching the characters bury themselves into the ground.

**Kuchiyose Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu!**

"Ha! Whatever you do is useless!" Zabuza's voice called through the heavy mist. "I know exactly where you are! Trapped by my jutsu!" Kakashi only waited patiently.

Soon the air was filled with the sound of low rumbling. There was a suspenseful silence before Kakashi could hear the earth explode somewhere in front of him and the Mist nin's sound of shock.

"If eyes and ears don't work," He said coldly, standing as the mist began to dissipate. "Just follow your nose." The jounin began to walk towards the newly-detained Zabuza, his summoned dogs hanging off various body parts. "That's what happens when you have your eyes shut in mist. The summoning is specially used for tracking down an opponent with weapons soaked in my own blood." Kakashi nodded vaguely at the large sword being held down. "My nin dogs. Their sense of smell exceeds that of any other dog. You, Zabuza, are the one trapped in my jutsu."

"Ergh..." Zabuza attempted to move away, but the dogs' teeth were firmly clamped on his flesh.

"The mist has cleared," Kakashi said flatly, coming to a standstill a few meters from the nin. "Your future is death." As if on cue, there was a shattering sound behind them and both ninja turned to see the room of ice mirrors shatter all at once, revealing a lone, standing figure.

It was Naruto. His shoulders were hunched and he seemed to be shivering as he looked down at something, but he looked relatively unharmed otherwise.

Zabuza's eyes widened and he seemed to choke on something. "Haku..." He whispered. Any words Kakashi might have said died as a shiver seemed to wrack the missing-nin's frame, eyes slowly closing. He might have been a traitor to his kage, he might have been the Demon of the Mist, and he may have been the one that attacked Kakashi's team, but...

Apparently he'd had his own precious person. Zabuza's eyes then met Kakashi's and the silver-haired jounin nodded in mutual understanding, hands blurring through familiar seals.

He didn't think Zabuza felt when he plunged his hand directly through his heart, the sounds of birds slowly dying away as he heard his female student cry out.

"_SASUKE-KUN!_"

* * *

Sakura slowly knelt beside the dark-haired boy lying before her, gently holding out a hand to his neck.

"... He's cold." She whispered, hanging her head. "It's not... an illusion..."

"Don't mind me," Tazuna murmured beside her. "It's best to cry." Sakura slowly shook her head.

"I've always scored one hundred percent on academy exams. Memorized over a hundred shinobi rules, always having the answer to everything... On this one test there was a question about Shinobi Rule number twenty-five." She choked on the last words, slowly pressing a hand to her mouth as a stray tear leaked from her eye.

"The rule?" Tazuna asked softly, but then Sakura's head whipped up and she stared ahead in horror.

"Naruto!" The bridge builder looked up as well and nearly lost his lunch.

The blonde kid was standing there, shivering uncontrollably as he stared down at the figure below him. It was a grotesque sight, the limbs twisted and broken in awkward angles and what looked to be claw marks ravaging the stomach and throat areas.

But the worst part was that he was still _alive_, low, rasping gasps of breath coming from behind the odd hunter-nin mask he was wearing, body cringing in pain every once in a while. Tazuna tore his eyes away from the boy to look again at Naruto, who was now staring at his hands with wide, horrified eyes. Hands covered in what was obviously not his own blood.

"Naruto." The silver-haired ninja seemed to materialize behind Naruto, single eye staring down the body with a wide-eyed gaze. Naruto cringed at his teacher's voice, arms wrapping around himself.

"I... I didn't mean to!" He choked. "He just... And I..." A shiver wracked the blonde's spine and Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder, eye closing solemnly. Then he slowly knelt beside the broken ninja and removed the odd face mask.

A young—far too young—face twisted in pain beneath the mask, blood spilling from his mouth and gurgling out obviously agonizing breaths. His eyes snapped open and locked on Kakashi.

"Za... buza... san..." He croaked out, and for the first time Tazuna realized that the jounin's hand was coated in blood and bits of gore. Kakashi slowly shook his head, and the boy's eyes closed tightly, tears sliding down his cheeks. "Ah..."

"Sensei, you can... fix him... right?" Naruto looked pleadingly at Kakashi, who shook his head.

"I don't have enough chakra." He said firmly. "And the boy will be dead in an hour."

"But sensei, he-"

"Na... ruto..." Naruto gave a start and looked down to see the mist nin looking up with a small smile. "It's... okay... You did it... for your precious person... I under... stand..." The blonde flinched like he'd been struck.

"But I-" Then Tazuna nearly had a heart attack when Kakashi held out a kunai in front of Naruto, eye sharp. Naruto looked between the kunai and the boy, shaking his head. "Sensei, but he-"

"Will die." The jounin said firmly. Naruto choked out a sob as he took the kunai with shaking hands, slowly kneeling beside the boy who watched him.

"I hope to... see you again... Zabuza-san..." He murmured, closing his eyes. Naruto sobbed again, shakily raising the blade to the boy's already ravaged throat.

Tazuna looked away.

* * *

When the group had gone back to Tazuna's house that evening Tsunami raced out of the house and held Tazuna and Inari in a hug, expressing how worried she'd been.

Inari had rounded up the villagers to the bridge, remembering Naruto's words to him when he'd saved him. _'Real strength comes from protecting your loved ones.'_ The boy had immediately spread this around, saying how standing up to Gatou would be the only way of protecting their country.

When they'd arrived, the bridge was in chaos. Mercenaries running in fear from seemingly-possessed Naruto clones, leaving behind one Gatou who had initially collapsed in terror himself. Then the short business man had taken one look at the mob and fled himself. The portly business man was later reported to have fled the island.

No one really seemed to mind.

Now Kakashi sat just outside the room he was supposed to be resting in, thinking about how Sasuke's 'death' had set off Naruto. Even him coming back didn't seem to quite fix the boy to his original state of happy-go-lucky. But the jounin could probably take a guess as to why.

The first kill was always the hardest.

"Kakashi-san?" Kakashi turned and eye-smiled at the bridge builder that walked up behind him, standing himself.

"Tazuna." He said, nodding. "Did you need something?" Tazuna hesitated.

"About... about that boy..."

"Naruto?"

"Yeah." Kakashi inwardly sighed as he realized Tazuna was trying to say something.

"Whatever it is, just say it." The man looked at him for a long moment before rubbing his temple.

"He's too young!" He exclaimed suddenly. "This whole shinobi thing is just... is just..."

"Not for a child?" Kakashi supplied. He nodded. "It's not. But Naruto was considered an adult in the world the day he received his hitai-ate. And adult shinobi are expected to know how to take a life." Tazuna flinched.

"But that boy was already... why would you make him..."

"The boy was already dying." The jounin agreed. "But it would have taken a long time, filled with more pain than you can imagine. Despite our way of life, even shinobi are not that cruel."

"But why did _he_ have to do it?" Tazuna demanded. "He was already a wreck!"

"He had to finish what he started." Kakashi said coolly. "It's the most important lesson a genin can learn. Going through with a mission the entire way. Finishing someone that's already half dead." Tazuna seemed taken aback at that and simply looked past the silver-haired man to the ocean view.

"... That girl mentioned something when she thought the boy was dead." He said at length. "A shinobi rule... twenty-five?" Kakashi closed his eye.

"Sakura is very book smart." He said quietly. "Shinobi Rule twenty-five. A shinobi must banish his emotions no matter the situation for the sake of the mission, possessing a heart that does not show tears." He opened his eye to gauge Tazuna's sick look. "It's not a lifestyle to be taken lightly, Tazuna-san." He said. "But it's a choice that they have already made." Tazuna looked out at the ocean for a long time.

"I... see." He said after a moment. The two stood in silence before the man shook his head. "But the kid's still a mess."

"He is." Kakashi agreed. "It's always like that."

"Still, isn't there someone back in Konoha..."

"One." He nodded. "The woman you antagonized." Tazuna went deathly pale at that, suddenly remembering her promise.

"She's not gonna..."

"Probably not." Kakashi almost smirked at the look of obvious relief on Tazuna's face. "But if there's one thing Naruto can tell you about her, it's that she never goes back on her word." He let the bridge builder sweat that out for a minute before adding casually "But then again, Naruto should be fully healed by the time you complete your bridge."

Tazuna's look of absolute rapture was easily one of the funniest things Kakashi had ever seen. Besides when Rae exploded.

That was always pretty funny too.

* * *

Rae sank to the grass with a long sigh, all but chugging her water as she leaned against the stone that marked her starting point. Seeing how Ichiraku's was closed today (Teuchi and Ayame decided they needed a vacation) Rae had gotten an early start on her exercising. But not too early, of course, seeing how she still had nightmares about her last morning jog. Now she was allowing herself a quick break, looking at the memorial stone she was standing by. Initially she'd chosen it as her starting point because of the pole, though also because it was in a generally isolated location. Now standing in front of it, she couldn't help but look at the names carved on it, eyes resting on one in particular.

_Uchiha Obito_

Rae furrowed her brow in confusion as she touched the name. It sounded so familiar, and yet for the life of her she couldn't think of why. She knew he couldn't have been around anytime recently; the Uchiha massacre was long ago, after all. As far as she remembered the Naruto manga started at least six years after it, so why would the name Obito seem so familiar?

"You look lost." Rae nearly jumped but instead spun, still in the half crouch she'd been in. Her gaze settled on a tall, dark-haired woman with a hitai-ate and the strangest red eyes. Rae inwardly nagged at her mind until she came up with a name. _You-something Kurenai_.

"Just... trying to remember something." Rae finally said at length, standing and brushing her jacket off. The woman hmmed in understanding.

"Visiting a certain name?" Rae shook her head.

"Nah, just looking. One of the names seemed kind of familiar to me, though. Uchiha Obito?" The woman looked at her with an unreadable expression before shrugging.

"Perhaps just the family name." She offered.

"Yeah... maybe." Rae looked back before shrugging. "Anyway, Kuroda Rae."

"Yuuhi Kurenai." _Oh. _"Instructor of Team Eight. We're meeting here any moment." Rae blinked.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't-"

"No, no." Kurenai waved off her apology. "It's not a special meeting place or anything. I just chose it because there's usually no one here this time of day."

"Ah." Rae nodded in understanding. She then blinked as Kurenai vanished and reappeared beside her. "Wha-"

"Hey!" Rae blinked as a small white puppy came bounding out of the bushes, a brown-haired boy just behind him. Rae bent down and scratched the puppy behind his ears. "Rae!"

"Hey, Kiba. Akamaru." Rae said, still petting Akamaru. The dog rolled on his back and she smiled, rubbing its stomach.

"Rae-san?" Rae looked up to see another girl come towards her.

"Hinata." She said, waving and standing. Kiba picked up Akamaru with a grin. "What have I told you? Just Rae."

"S-Sorry." Rae sighed to the heavens and shook her head.

"But anyway, are you two part of Team Eight then?" She asked. Kiba blinked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Rae shrugged, jabbing a thumb to the woman beside her.

"I met Kurenai." Another boy came up then, with dark hair and sunglasses over his coat.

"Have you seen Kurenai-sensei?" The boy asked in a low tone. He then nodded. "Aburame Shino."

"Kuroda Rae." Rae nodded back. "Yeah. We were just talking."

"W-Where is she?" Hinata asked, looking around. Rae turned in confusion to Kurenai only for the woman to shake her head silently. Rae furrowed her eyebrows but shrugged.

"She... uh, vanished." Which was true. She just happened to reappear next to her. The three genin exchanged glances before Kiba jumped and looked to the side.

"Oh! There she is!" Rae looked as well but squinted her eyes when she didn't see anything.

"But there isn't-" The three ran off in the direction Kiba had pointed. "... Anything there." Rae turned and stared at the woman, who was staring back in equal confusion. "... What?"

"I placed a genjutsu over the area that would hide my appearance and smell." Kurenai said, still staring at Rae. "Then another to make them think I had walked by. But how did you see through it?"

"Oh." Rae nodded in understanding. "Genjutsu don't work on me. One of the few perks of not having chakra." Rae shrugged at Kurenai's dumbfounded look. "Really. No chakra coils, no tenketsu system, nothing. Scared the shit out of the medics a couple months back." She rolled her eyes as Kurenai hmmed.

"It is quite unusual." She said. "They probably thought you should have been dead."

"They told me the same thing." Rae grumbled, crossing her arms. She sighed. "But anyway, sorry to intrude. I was just resting." Kurenai shrugged.

"It's not a problem. Though if I may ask, why would a civilian train?" Rae blinked in surprise.

"How did you-" Rae cut herself off. "Actually, you know what? I'm just going to write it off as a ninja thing. Never mind." She shook her head. "But, see, there was this... _incident_," She coughed. "Where I told all of Team Seven that I was going to train myself to a decent level at the very least. I'm always telling people that I don't go back on my word, so..." Rae shrugged. "Yeah."

"Oh," Kurenai blinked and looked at Rae oddly. "I'd heard there was a woman shadowing Team Seven for the past month. Were you it?" Rae nodded.

"Just a... thing." She said lamely, awkwardly shoving a hand in her pocket. "For the Hokage."

"So you're a shinobi?"

"No. But..." Rae looked rather helpless. "It's... kind of hard to explain. I'm not a civilian though. I'm... Hm." She stared at Kurenai rather blankly. "I have no idea. I just do what the Hokage says and I don't even ask." Kurenai scrunched her brow in confusion.

"Are you from Konoha?"

"Nah, I'm from somewhere pretty far off." Rae waved a hand vaguely. "But I've been living in Konoha for the past four years."

"And you have a mission from the Hokage?" Kurenai seemed bewildered. Rae nodded.

"Yep." She hmmed. "Though I actually work at Ichiraku's ramen stand. That's how I know Hinata and Kiba. Well, and because Hinata is Naruto's little friend." She snickered under her breath as Kurenai giggled.

"The mention of that boy always sends Hinata into a little stuttering session." She said in bemusement. "Kiba teases her about it to no end."

"I try to tease Naruto about it, but he always stares at me blankly and asks me if I'm feeling okay." Rae scowled. "Stupid idiot. Goes through an entire volume of Icha Icha and he _still_ doesn't understand innuendos." Kurenai coughed.

"Icha Icha?" Rae turned red.

"... Anyway." She instead said, turning away quickly. "I should go. I have stuff to do. Nice to meet you!" She then walked away as quickly as she could, hand on pocket as though the red book would fall out any second.

* * *

Kakashi sighed heavily as he led his team through the Konoha gates, pausing a moment to look his students over. They were, in essence, a wreck.

Sasuke had initially awakened his Sharingan, but he sent odd glances to Naruto every once in a while. Then he would look away after a few seconds, grumbling something under his breath. Naruto looked down the entire way home, not saying a single word. That, more than anything, worried the team. Or maybe it was his words at the Mist nins' graves just before they left.

"_He believed he was nothing more than a tool... right sensei?" Kakashi nodded slowly._

"_It's the belief in all shinobi nations." He said. Naruto scowled at the graves before him, clenching his fists at his side._

"_Well, I'm not going to be like that!" He suddenly snapped. "If being a great shinobi means being a tool, then I'll break that! It's not living," His gaze slowly traveled to the ground. "It's one foot in the grave and following orders like a zombie. People aren't like that. __**I'm**__ not like that!"_

Not that it stopped his zombie-like state the rest of the way home. Kakashi sighed as he realized he would probably have to _talk_ to Naruto later, when he snapped out of his weird state. He'd never been good with kids really, but this was something all jounin-instructors were told they had to deal with sooner or later. It was a matter of teaching the genin the rights and wrongs of taking a life, and something that would have to be handled rather delicately according to most.

He'd probably have to wait until they found Rae though. Naruto always listened to her. With that thought in mind, the silver-haired jounin waved his students towards the Hokage Tower, not stopping until they knocked on the Sandaime's door.

"Enter." Then when they walked in and found Rae and a certain white-haired man standing next to the Hokage, Kakashi thought that maybe life was just that weird. The woman's gaze immediately traveled over the entire team, pausing, surprisingly, on Sasuke before she got a good look at Naruto.

"Ah..." Rae slowly set the notebook on the desk behind her and walked up to Naruto. She tilted his chin up to her. "Naruto?" Naruto stared at her blankly and Kakashi inwardly winced. He'd really hoped to fix Naruto's state of mind before coming back. Rae may not have been a real threat, but considering her apparent involvement with the Sandaime (and Jiraiya now) she was still very much capable of making his life a living hell for anything he did to her little brother.

Rae snapped her fingers a few times in front of his face before turning to Kakashi slowly. "What. Happened." She demanded in a clipped tone. The Hokage coughed.

"Thank you Jiraiya, we can continue this discussion another time." Jiraiya looked over the team curiously.

"Sure. But don't think I'm just gonna leave you guys hanging!" He suddenly exclaimed, slapping a hand on the jounin's back. Kakashi winced.

"... Jiraiya-sama." He muttered.

"What's with that tone? Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Jiraiya." Sarutobi said sternly, and the white-haired man sighed.

"Leaving, leaving. It's not over though!" With that he walked out of the room. Kakashi stood in front of the desk.

"Hokage-sama."

"Kakashi. Report." Kakashi sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"It seems the client... lied to us." He said. "He was being pursued by Gatou for his work on the bridge. Gatou hired missing-nins to attack Tazuna-san, including the Demon Brothers and Momochi Zabuza." The Hokage raised an eyebrow seriously before nodding behind Kakashi to the blanked-out Naruto.

"And Naruto?" Then Naruto suddenly stirred and clung to Rae, eyes filled with tears and shaking. Rae leaned down and held him.

"Shhh, Naruto, it's okay, s'okay..." Naruto choked on a sob as he shook his head as Kakashi winced.

"Naruto... lost control on Zabuza's apprentice, a boy named Haku." Naruto cringed even harder into the woman as she seemed to understand. "He didn't die immediately. Naruto had to finish him off." Rae winced and clutched Naruto a little tighter, nuzzling her face in his hair.

"Shhh..." She murmured. "It's..." But she didn't seem to be able to say it was quite okay, something flashing in her eyes before she simply held the boy silently. The Hokage nodded.

"I see." The Sandaime wrote something on a piece of paper before looking at the other two genin. "You two are dismissed. Congratulations on your first B-rank." The two nodded and left, though not before casting Naruto one last glance. When the door shut behind them the Hokage folded his hands and pierced Kakashi with a hard gaze. "Now, report on everything that happened."

Kakashi looked sideways at Rae for a moment before nodding and telling of how they were first attacked by the Demon Brothers just outside Konoha, and how Tazuna then told them of what the mission truly detailed. He then explained how Zabuza attacked and trapped him, and how Naruto and Sasuke used teamwork to release him. Then of how Haku, disguised as a hunter-nin, had put the missing-nin in a temporary death and taken him away along with his own chakra exhaustion.

"And as you were recovering?"

"I took the team outside to teach them the basics of water walking. They picked it up by the end of the week." The Hokage hmmed in thought.

"And when Zabuza attacked again?" Kakashi shifted almost uneasily before explaining that Naruto had been late that morning, but Sasuke had originally taken on Haku, a boy with an ice bloodline, while Zabuza attacked Kakashi.

"As far as I know Sasuke was losing. Then Naruto came and jumped right in the middle of the mirrors. I couldn't see much through the mist of what happened, but..." Here the jounin seemed to chew on something before sighing. "After a while, the Kyuubi's chakra somehow became tangible. I could feel it through the mist." Naruto cringed into Rae, who only ruffled his hair.

"And after it disappeared?"

"Then we found the boy severely injured, by Naruto's hands. He was already dying, so..." The Hokage nodded slowly.

"I see." He murmured again. "Well, regardless it seems an outstanding performance on a first B-rank. The pay shall be properly compensated for the increase in rank. And Rae-san," Rae looked up, not releasing Naruto.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"We shall continue the meeting another time." Rae tightened her grip on the blonde.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." She whispered, bowing her head.

"Dismissed."

"Come on, otouto." Rae murmured as she pulled Naruto out of the room, Kakashi vanishing. "It's a good day for the park."

* * *

Rae panted as she leaned heavily against the tree, rubbing at her sore legs. There was a small flash in the corner of her eye and she blinked, looking at the trees beside her. "I'm not near your apartment." She said thoughtfully.

"I had a question." Kakashi leaned nonchalantly against a tree, eye scrutinizing the woman beside him. "You knew that Tazuna was lying."

"... That's not a question." Rae said at length, not quite looking at the jounin.

"What did you know?" She almost cringed. He always managed to ask the wrong questions. Or the right ones, depending on the point of view.

"I knew that his country was relying on his bridge." She said, rubbing her arm. "And that Gatou would come after him. The missing-nin thing wasn't all that shocking." She looked at the jounin, who stared at her for a moment.

"And the Hokage?" He said after a bit.

"I told him."

"Hm." Kakashi scratched the back of his head. "And you let Naruto on that mission?" Rae looked down.

"I didn't think he'd have to kill." She said quietly. "I wasn't even sure about Tazuna until I met him. Stupid old ass." She grumbled under her breath. Kakashi chuckled.

"The mention of you still haunts him." He said, smirking. "He watched over Naruto like he was made of glass." Rae snickered.

"I'm not _that_ scary." She said lightly. "Maybe it's just the scar; people tend to listen to people with scars. And tattoos, but I hate needles." Rae shivered at the thought. "Needles are nasty."

"I wouldn't peg you for that kind of phobia." The jounin replied dryly, shoving a hand in his pocket and following as Rae began to jog again. The two went on in silence for a moment. "So how's Naruto?" The woman sobered quickly.

"He's... okay." She said slowly. "He told me everything that happened. Including what you made him do." There was a long silence before Rae peeked sideways at the silver-haired ninja. "... Thanks." Kakashi's eyebrow raised incredulously.

"Not many would take well to being forced to slit someone's throat." He stated. "Especially to someone that was already dying."

"He would have died very, very slowly." Rae retorted. "I know the consequences of out-of-control martial arts. And I also know that Naruto would have probably watched the entire time, too scared to do the right thing as he watched his handiwork slowly bleed to death in front of him." She shivered at an unknown thought. "No, killing may be a part of what you do, but killing like that?" Rae shook her head. "It's inhumane." She jogged on for a bit before Kakashi hmmed.

"You know this from experience?" Rae didn't say a word. "And killing is part of the job." The man said at length. "But I can honestly say I didn't think that only a couple months into the team would we have to deal with it."

"Life's just weird that way." She grumbled. "But can you talk to him for me? I can tell him all about breaking people, but I don't exactly feel the necessity of killing off people myself."

"I was planning on it." Kakashi agreed. "I would have done so earlier, but he was unnaturally silent these past few weeks. I wasn't sure if he'd listen." Rae smirked.

"Ah, I think he'd listen to you." She said. "He told me about you fighting Zabuza. I know the beginnings of hero-worship. He thinks what you did was cool. The fact that you came off as a lazy-ass makes you even cooler to him." Kakashi eye-smiled.

"I am a very cool person." He said cheerfully.

"I believe the phrase is 'hip and too-cool'." At once the silver-haired jounin deflated, Rae snickering under her breath.

"You've been talking to Gai." He muttered.

"Correction: I've been _apologized_ to by Gai." He winced.

"The apology?"

"He visits the ramen stand. Weekly. And he gave me a _green jumpsuit_. _And_ he swore that he'd challenge you for your 'unyouthful actions' until I was satisfied." A small cloud seemed to form over Kakashi's head and his eye widened dramatically.

"And you..." Rae grinned.

"Oh, I told him that I would forgive you..." Her grin widened when Kakashi looked at her hopefully. "... Eventually." Rae then laughed out loud at the look on the jounin's face, not caring that the way she was rubbing her hands together along with the goggles made her look like a mad scientist. One that was cackling to the night like some kind of loon.

Revenge was _so_ sweet.

* * *

I like how you guys immediately pegged Rae as someone who would take vengeance as well. Because you were so right it _is_ funny.

Oh, uh... And sorry to any Haku and Zabuza fans. They're cute and all, but I have no place for them down the line. (Although I do like Zabuza more- Not sure why). And sorry for the weepy scenes. And... the shortness of this arc. =.=;; What, like two to three chapters? And not to mention I only have one more chapter typed out before I'm going to have to actually start _writing_, so...

Whoopee.

Anyway! Next is the pre-Chuunin arc! I can't guarantee anything about how long it will be, but there will be much, much more Sasuke in it than ever before. And Rae. And Hinata. And some Asuma and Kurenai... Definitely Gai... Oh, and there will be some more Team Seven stuff...

I have a lot to fit in there.

On another note: A lot of you are asking about stuff like the council and Danzo. Thanks to the most in-depth PM sent by Fayth85 (Did I mention thank you? THANK YOU!) and Narutopedia, I feel I am sufficiently equiped to deal with this. It's been ignored fairly deliberately this entire time, in fact. Because we will get into that... later.

Much, much later.

Peace out.

**PS: If you've been having problems updating in certain fandoms, there _is_ a way around this- When you go to update your story, in the URL change the word 'property' to 'content' and go there. I say this because a: It's my duty as a member of fanfiction, and b: I KNOW THERE'S A BUNCH OF YOU WHO WRITE MY FAVORITES STORIES AND I WANT THEM TO BE UPDATED REAL SOON. KTHXBAI.**


	15. Interpretations

Okay, over five hundred reviews! YOU GUYS NEED TO REALIZE HOW COOL THIS IS: We aren't even to the Chunin Exams yet, let alone the halfway mark of this story! BUT THERE ARE A LOT OF AWESOME REVIEWS AND THAT MAKES ME YELL REALLY, REALLY LOUD.

*somewhat hyper* And not to mention what was _in_ the reviews! Not only am I still getting positive reviews for Rae, but for the future pairing! I'm psyched that you guys are loving Kakashi, especially the idea of RaexKakashi! I haven't even gotten to anything good and you guys are rooting for them!

I'M SO HAPPY I MIGHT EXPLODE SO I'M JUST GOING TO LET YOU READ THE CHAPTER. In other news, we are now in the Pre-chunin arc! Believe it! And oh boy we are AD-LIBBING because I have no more pre-written chapters. :x I'm so dead.

Enjoy.

* * *

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" It was only years of experience that allowed the jounin's eye to widen dramatically and simultaneously duck to the ground just as a green blur crashed into the tree beside him, his students all stopping their exercising to stare incredulously.

"What... was that?" Sakura exclaimed, eyes on the settling debris. Kakashi slowly stood and backed away as a certain spandex-wearing man emerged from the tree splinters no less dramatically than his initial appearance, teeth gleaming in the sun and finger pointing at the silver-haired jounin.

"My eternal rival!" Gai declared to the heavens. "It has come to my attention that it has been _months_ since I have challenged you! Months! An oversight that brings nothing but shame to my current standing of even fifty wins to your forty-nine!" The bushy-browed man suddenly beamed. "But I will now correct this! I, Maito Gai, challenge you, Hatake Kakashi!" The three genin stared at the green-clad ninja before turning expectantly to their sensei.

"... Hm?" Kakashi looked up suddenly from the side. "You say something, Gai?" Gai face-vaulted alongside the team.

"Again with the 'hip and too-cool' attitude!" He exclaimed. "But you shall not prevail against the Flames of Youth this time around! I-"

"Will someone explain what the hell is going on?" Naruto finally demanded. The green jounin paused to turn and blink at the blonde for a moment.

"You are... Uzumaki Naruto?" Naruto squinted at him.

"Yeah? Who are you?" Gai threw up his hands in an odd pose.

"How rude of me! I am Konoha's beautiful green beast, Maito Gai!" He gave the genin a thumbs up and a blinding grin. "Also known as your sensei's eternal rival! As to how I know of you, your beautiful blossom of a sister speaks highly of you!" Naruto scratched his head as he slowly ran through the man's words in his mind.

"Beautiful blossom of a... Oh, Rae-chan?"

"Indeed! She tells me you are quite the hard worker!" Naruto grinned at the praise.

"Well, I'm gonna be Hokage some day! So I need to work real hard for- ACK!" Gai crushed the poor blonde in his grasp, tears streaming down his face.

"Such a youthful student!" The green jounin cried.

"Sensei! Help!" Naruto choked out, wriggling fruitlessly in the man's iron grip. Sakura and Sasuke only wondered at how the bushy-browed man had moved so quickly. Kakashi sighed heavily.

"Gai, my students need to _breathe_." He emphasized, and Gai dropped the blonde to the floor as he turned with a dramatic whirl and point.

"Do not think I have forgotten our challenge!" He exclaimed, ignoring the gasping genin beside him. "I have sworn to Rae-chan that I will make amends for your actions!"

"What actions?" Naruto demanded, sitting up and glaring at his sensei. "What did you do to Rae-chan?" Kakashi seemed to sweat, holding up a placating hand.

"Maa, Naruto, that's not what he-"

"And I challenge you to a race around Konoha! Five hundred laps!" The three genin stared incredulously as Kakashi sighed heavily.

"... Fine." He grumbled. "On your mark, get set..."

"GO!" And the green beast vanished just as quickly as he had appeared. There was a long moment of silence as Team Seven watched their sensei expectantly.

"... Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked carefully. Kakashi pulled out his book again.

"Yes, Sakura?"

"Aren't you going to... you know, race?" The jounin eye-smiled.

"How do you know I haven't completed the laps already?" He asked casually. Naruto stared.

"Because we watched you the entire time!" He exclaimed, pointing accusingly. "You didn't move a muscle!"

"You can't prove that." Kakashi walked back to his position of leaning against another, not-destroyed tree. "And neither can he." He waved a hand nonchalantly at their expressions. "Continue training."

"But who was that?" Sakura asked incredulously. The jounin sighed.

"Exactly who he said he was. Maito Gai. Konoha's taijutsu master."

"Will he really do all five-hundred laps?" Sasuke asked slowly. Kakashi nodded, flipping a page in his book.

"His student will probably join him somewhere in between." He added.

"That guy has a _student_?" Naruto asked, shuddering at the thought.

"His own genin team." An image of three mini-Gai's flashed through the team's minds and they shuddered as one. Suddenly Naruto seemed to realize something and he snickered. The two genin looked at him curiously and he grinned.

"He said he knew Rae-chan." He said. "That probably means he's bugging Kakashi-sensei because of something she did!" Kakashi slumped as Naruto pointed at him. "You don't know nee-chan! She gets _mean_ when it comes to revenge!" The blonde shivered. "This one time I was showing her a new jutsu I made, and... well..."

"... Well?" Sakura asked. Naruto paled.

"Nothing." He squeaked, slowly sitting on the ground and holding himself. Kakashi took in his expression before smirking under his mask.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the Hot Spring incident several months back, would it?" When Naruto trembled in terror Kakashi turned to the other two. "There were reports that an academy student snuck into the woman's bath when there were over a dozen kunoichi in it." He explained, looking rather gossip-happy. "_Something_ made him stand up in the middle of them and henge into a naked female right in front of them. Needless to say, the shinobi portion of the females were... less than happy. There are rumors that the snake mistress was there as well." Naruto whimpered at that, slowly rocking back and forth as the two stared at him.

"..."

"..."

"... But." Kakashi seemed to realize that Naruto would be out of the picture for a while. "What happened is something that only the kunoichi know. And the intruder, of course. In the meantime, I want to see your speed in forming hand seal sequences. Tiger, ram, bird, ox." Naruto recovered instantly, standing at attention and quivering in excitement.

"Oh! Is it some super cool jutsu you want to show us, sensei?" Kakashi hmmed as he formed a tiger seal.

"Well, watch closely." The genin nodded and leaned forward in anticipation. He blurred his hands through the seals until they were at the ox, then he slowly pulled his hands apart to reveal a length of string around his fingers woven into zigzags. "The bridge!" He chirped, eye-smiling at the three. The team collapsed backwards in disbelief.

"SENSEI!"

* * *

Kakashi flipped a page through his book, casually weaving through the crowds after his eager blonde student. He'd initially agreed to take the three to ramen (even if they'd only been back in Konoha for a week) not only because Naruto had insisted, but he had a feeling that morning's encounter with a certain green-clad jounin were set up by an even more certain dark-haired ramen stand worker, and not just because Naruto had mentioned her... revenge tactics.

Because something just told him that when it came down to it, Rae wasn't the kind of person to just yell and scowl and then let it go. And he _had_ been pushing it for a while...

"Rae-chan!" Naruto shouted, jumping on the stool. Rae smiled slightly and ruffled his hair.

"Hey, hero." She said before scowling and smacking the back of his head. "What? Can't visit any more than once a week? Not enough time for the big ninja to visit his poor, lonesome nee-chan?" Naruto sulked and rubbed his head.

"I was _busy_!" He whimpered. "I am a big ninja now!"

"We have been really busy with D-ranks again, Rae-san." Sakura added meekly. Sasuke only hned and looked away as Rae rolled her eyes.

"Well damn you all for leaving me here, then." She grumbled, setting a bowl of ramen in front of the blonde. He dug in immediately as she sighed. "But what do you guys want? You'd better be here to eat ramen, you know."

"Rae! Stop being rude to the customers!" A voice from the back called and Rae rolled her eyes.

"Come on, Ayame! I know them and they don't mind, right?" She cast an evil eye to the three as a brown-haired girl walked up, blinking at the sight of the team. Kakashi eye-smiled and waved.

"Actually, some friendly service would be- Oof." He rubbed his arm and raised an eyebrow as Rae leaned back from punching him. "See? Not even a smile for a customer?"

"You haven't ordered anything, asshole!" Rae snarled. Ayame looked mortified.

"Rae!" She exclaimed in horror. "Don't treat Kakashi-san like that! I'm sure he was about to order, right?" Kakashi eye-smiled at the girl.

"Of course!" He chirped. "It would be inconsiderate to take my students here without contributing to this fine establishment myself. I don't believe we've met, miss..." The girl giggled.

"Ayame." She said, bowing her head as a faint pink tinge covered her cheeks. "But I've heard of your team; you had a recent B-rank, did you not?" Naruto went quite at that but continued eating his ramen as Rae and Sasuke scowled. Sakura looked away nervously as Kakashi scratched the back of his head.

"Er... yeah." He smoothly changed the subject. "So there was a disturbance this morning." Rae snickered suddenly, slapping her hand to her face.

"S-Sorry." She managed, shaking her head furiously. "Just… reminded me of something… Go on." Kakashi sweat dropped.

"_Thank you_, Rae-san." He monotoned. "Now about that green-clad disturbance..."

"I have gathered the supplies, Rae-san~!" At the blur of green that appeared in front of the stand Naruto yelped and crashed off the stool, nearly spilling his ramen. Rae snorted and patted the bowl cut in front of her.

"Thank you, Lee." She said simply, taking the box of spices. "But you really didn't have to-"

"But it was my pleasure, Rae-san!" Lee said, eyes wide in utter adoration for the dark-haired woman. "After all, Gai-sensei's rival's actions were just as much my fault!" Rae sweat dropped as the group stared.

"Lee," She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I _told_ Gai that it was all Kakashi's fault, remember?" Lee suddenly seemed to realized the presence of the group, and pointed dramatically.

"You!" Naruto blinked, sitting up from the ground and pointing to himself in bewilderment.

"Me?"

"You are Uzumaki Naruto, correct?" Naruto nodded slowly, eyebrow twitching at the obvious Gai resemblance.

"Yes...?"

"I have heard great things about you!" Lee cried, throwing himself at the blonde and hugging him tightly. "I heard you are a hard worker yourself!"

"Can't... breathe..." Naruto gasped in a breath when the green-clad boy released him, shaking his head before grinning. "Yeah, I've gotta work hard to reach my goal of Hokage someday! Believe it!"

"And I have to work hard to reach my goal of taijutsu master!" The bushy-browed boy exclaimed, jumping back and striking a pose. Naruto stared for a moment before throwing a finger in the air as his own pose.

"Yeah! Believe it!"

"Yeah!" Rae slapped her forehead as the others sweat dropped.

"Well, I did hope they would get along..." She muttered, watching the two make various exclamations at each others. Complete with dramatic poses, although it looked like Naruto was running out of ideas.

"Any particular reason he's here?" Kakashi asked at length, eyebrow twitching. Rae shrugged.

"Apparently Gai is running hundreds of laps around Konoha twice today." She said, leaning against the counter. "Lee didn't want to 'get in the way' or something, so he asked to help at the ramen stand."

"H-He looks just like him..." Sakura whispered in horror. Rae snickered and patted her pink head.

"Doesn't he?" She asked mildly. "He's actually a very sweet kid, though. Enthusiastic, but sweet. And polite. And he's stronger than all three of you." Sasuke's head whipped up at that, glowering at Rae.

"What?" He demanded. "That guy? Stronger?" Rae scowled.

"Don't make the mistake of thinking you're the strongest genin around, duck butt." She retorted. "You wouldn't be a match for Lee. And you know what?" She smirked suddenly. "He doesn't even use any ninjutsu or genjutsu. Strictly taijutsu _only_." Sasuke looked as though he'd strangle the woman before turning away with a huff.

"Delusional woman." He scoffed. "Like that loser could beat me." Lee paused and looked up from his conversing with Naruto before he was suddenly in front of Sasuke, arms crossed.

"I am a loser." He said sternly. "But hard work has made me overcome my boundaries and become strong! You are Uchiha Sasuke, correct? The Rookie of the Year?" Sasuke nodded smugly. "I hope someday to show a prodigy exactly what my hard work has accomplished. Perhaps someday we could have a friendly spar. But I must be going, Rae-san!" He turned to the dark-haired woman with a thumbs up. "Gai-sensei should be finishing soon, and I hoped to learn a new move he was showing me! Good bye, and..." He suddenly blushed lightly and turned to Sakura, giving a shy wave. "I hope to see you all again!" He said with a grin before vanishing. Rae blinked before snickering and nudging Sakura.

"Aw, I think he likes you!" She grinned. "Isn't that cute?"

"No!" Sakura wailed, looking horrified. "That isn't!"

"Aw, be nice pinky." Rae grumbled, patting said pink hair again. "I know he isn't the prettiest boy around, but he's a very nice young man. At least be nice back."

"Why should I?"

"So you don't come off as an insensitive little brat!"

"You mean like you?"

"At least I'm nice to those who are nice back!"

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said, ignoring the arguing girls in the background. "Do you really think Lee could be the teme with only taijutsu?" Sasuke glowered at that as Kakashi hmmed thoughtfully.

"At Sasuke's current level... he'd be crushed." Sasuke's head whipped to his sensei in disbelief.

"What?" Kakashi held up his hands.

"Gai and Lee are the hardest working ninjas in all of Konoha," He explained mildly. "They're the strongest _and_ the fastest. Even more so than me."

"But that bushy-brow called you his eternal rival!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at the jounin. "He said you won against him a bunch of times, too!"

"That's because I have one advantage over him." Kakashi eye-smiled. "I actually use ninjutsu and genjutsu." He seemed pleased at the incredulous faces of the two boys. "Rae-san was absolutely correct about them. Gai and Lee, for all of their talent in taijutsu, have little to no talent at all in ninjutsu and genjutsu. Gai simply because he doesn't work on his own skills at all, and Lee because he has a condition with his chakra coils that doesn't allow him to mold chakra very well. But when it comes to their taijutsu, they are good. Very, very good." Kakashi scratched the back of his neck. "If I went against him in a taijutsu-only match, Gai would easily beat me. But if he went against me in a ninjutsu-only match, I would easily beat him. It's all a matter of strengths."

"So does that mean bushy-brows is a master in martial arts, too?" Naruto asked, looking disappointed. Kakashi shook his head.

"Nope." Naruto blinked. "No one in Konoha has ever heard of that style, Naruto. I don't know where Rae-san learned it, but she's been teaching you something that not even Gai has learned. It's very unique in base stance, fighting techniques, everything. I couldn't think of any taijutsu to counter it completely if you were at equal strength and speed. In theory, if you trained to be faster and stronger than someone and got close enough to them to use your martial arts, you would be unbeatable." Sasuke seemed interested himself as Naruto perked up.

"So I could beat Lee in a fight?" He seemed elated at the idea.

"No." He drooped again. "I said at least _equal_ strength and speed. Gai and Lee run hundreds of laps around Konoha every morning. And their strength, well..." Kakashi's eye lazily flicked to Sasuke. "Their strength would bring even a prodigy to his knees." Sakura gaped at the implications as Rae snorted at the contrite look on Sasuke's face.

"Aw, ease up, duck butt." She said mildly, ignoring his glare. "They're harder workers than you. They just care more about getting stronger, that's all." Something in her words made Sasuke's eyes widen minutely and something seem to cross his mind. Rae ignored it and went back to Sakura. "So a fine young man that's even stronger than your precious Sasuke-kun is after you!" She winked at the kunoichi and gave her a thumbs up. "Ha, good luck with him."

"Rae-saaan!" Sakura whimpered. Kakashi ignored them and watched his dark-haired student's expression.

_Of course Rae would say exactly the right thing_, he thought to himself. _Sasuke works hard to get stronger to avenge his clan. To think that someone who's only getting stronger for the sake of being stronger is a harder worker than him, when he has such an ambition..._

"Hey, teme." Naruto glanced curiously at the expression on Sasuke's face. "You okay?"

"... Hn." Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets and glowered at nothing in particular. "Nothing. I'm going home." The group watched him leave before Naruto shrugged, throwing his finger in the air in a pose.

"Well, I'm gonna increase my strength and speed like crazy!" He declared. "And I'll learn super-cool jutsu _and_ master martial arts! I'll be an unbeatable ninja someday with both! Believe it!" Kakashi eye-smiled and he noticed Rae smiling slightly behind the counter. Naruto then eagerly turned to him and asked for help with ninjutsu, because wasn't Kakashi-sensei a ninjutsu master and he would know the perfect techniques for him and he could help with speed and strength even _more_ and-

Rae watched Naruto eagerly ask Kakashi for more training and Kakashi shrug and agree, inwardly glowing with pride. She'd thought that after the incident with the B-rank they'd been on Naruto would probably want to lay off his martial arts training a bit, but now it seemed he only wanted to add to his disposal of techniques. If he used ninjutsu along with his martial arts, the possibility of him losing control in martial arts alone was nearly slim to none.

She mentally racked her brains to remember Naruto's original timeline fighting style, but as far as her fuzzy memory supplied he only spammed kage bunshin clones and tackled the enemy with some kind of brawling style. _No wonder he'd always been frustrated with his progress then_, Rae thought. _And I don't think he ever used any other jutsu besides kage bunshin and that Kami-forsaken oiroke no jutsu. And the Ransengan._ Which, by the looks of things, was about to change drastically.

Rae could only hope that it was for the better.

* * *

Sasuke, as a personal rule, never let himself know the very concept of defeat. Defeat was for quitters, those who couldn't pick themselves up in a fight and push themselves to win. Losers who felt content with what they had, never striving for what they could achieve.

Perhaps it was in this way he understood Naruto. Once it was easy to see a boy that gathered what meager things he had and boasted to the world like it was everything. But over time he could see that burning drive to have more, to succeed where he couldn't at the moment and surpass every opponent he faced.

And he would, too, if he had been given the capability. Sasuke was determined to leave that blind ambition behind however- Sometimes it just wasn't enough. People like him and that Lee kid could go high, but only to a certain level. Then they hit a ceiling.

But he was Uchiha. He had no ceiling. It was more than just a name, it was the pride of an entire clan lifting him to the stars. What he attempted, he would excel in without stopping. He would be undefeated.

It was this line of thought that brought him to the ramen stand one afternoon, the single day of the week they didn't meet for training or missions. While usually he spent this day training himself, today he found that his target was elsewhere, walking along the streets of the village until he found her.

"Ow!" Yeah, that was her. Glaring angrily at a pole and rubbing her head, muttering strange babble that didn't form words at all. But nonetheless she held knowledge that had limitless potential, wasted on someone like her and Naruto. She seemed surprised to see him walking up to her, slowly closing her book and storing it. "… You?"

"Me." Sasuke stopped in front of her, knowing he had to make this simple. Crashes always jarred her brain more than usual. "I want you to teach me" There was a long silence. Definitely jarred. Speechless, her jaw hanging open in surprise and owlish eyes glued onto his form. He elaborated. "What you taught Naruto- That fighting style. Show me." If what Kakashi said was true, then with his own training and application those 'martial arts' would make him unbeatable. It was near impossible to copy with the Sharingan- All based on split-second decisions and loose defense.

It would bring Itachi to his knees with minimum effort. Rae finally snapped her mouth shut, staring at him with a strange look in her eyes. "No." She said simply, pulling out her book again. For a moment he stared after her retreating figure, trying to see where this had gone wrong- He asked, she gave. It was so simple that the deviation left him floundering for a moment.

"Why not?" He demanded when he'd recovered, flashing in front of her and watching her look up from her book to glare at him.

"Because I don't like you." She growled, face in that familiar scowl. He scowled back.

"What does that have to do with anything? You taught Naruto!"

"Because he's my little brother!" Rae snapped her book shut again, waving it at him. "And not just because I like him, either! I taught him because I knew he would use it for a good reason!"

"It's wasted on him!" Sasuke tried to make her see. If she cared how it was used, then surely she would favor him- He was avenging his family. Naruto was just trying to get a stupid position. "I can make it better, I need to kill that man!" Her face twisted at that, eyes cold and lips pressed into a thin line.

"No." She said again, though she didn't walk away. Just stood there, glaring at him. Letting him know that no matter what he said, she wouldn't do it.

"Do you not understand why I need to do that?" Sasuke clenched his fists, frustration and indignation welling up. She _had_ to see- He was completely alone because of _him_! "Do you not know why I need all the power I can get?" He needed to _pay_!

"I know exactly what happened to you!" She said, though her voice said otherwise- There was no pity, no understanding. Like she didn't care. "Your brother killed your family. And now you want to kill him." No, he realized with a measure of bewilderment and anger. She didn't care. At all. "Living your entire life just to kill a man, cutting down anyone who gets in your way- The only reason you're speaking any form of human conversation to me is because I have something you want!" His entire life? Ha!

"You act like I'm willing to die to kill him." Sasuke growled, seething with fury- This woman! This- This madness! "Like I'm throwing away everything just for him! He doesn't deserve that!"

"It's what you're giving to him!" She looked frustrated too, but that couldn't be right- Because she was calling him selfish when he was giving everything for his family. "Name one person you acknowledge- One human you actually care about! One thing in your life that you aren't willing to sacrifice for _him_!" When he didn't respond at first she smirked as if she'd won, whirling on her heel and marching away.

"My team." She paused, but he couldn't look up at her. Didn't care about her reaction anymore- She was a waste of time too. "Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto- They're the most family I've had in years." So long of being alone… "But none of them understand. They all have people in their lives that mean something to them." Everyone he'd tried to know didn't care about him though. They only cared about his power. They knew his quest and supported it- It was all that mattered to them.

But this woman wouldn't even acknowledge his purpose. "I need to have enough power to face him on my own." He looked up defiantly, glaring at her blank expression. "Otherwise… Otherwise he'll take them away too. Killing him won't bring back my family, and it wouldn't bring back them either! I want him to stop before he takes away anything else!" She didn't say anything, so he turned away with a scoff, breathing out a calming sigh. "You wouldn't understand though. None of you do."

"Hey." He ignored her, walking away. "I said wait you little duck ass!" A hand gripped his shoulder, turning him around to face her. Sasuke glowered, but she looked… sad? "Look kid," Rae sighed out, looking resigned. "It… It's not just me not liking you. Martial arts aren't even _made_ for killing- It's all about getting enough of a head to run away." He found himself stunned, backing away from her hand.

"But Naruto…"

"Never runs away. I know. But he doesn't kill either. He lets _them_ run away." Which made sense. The boy obviously saw no reason to kill- Didn't see them as obstacles. He saw enemies as people that were just in the wrong place. "That's why I'm encouraging him to learn past it. Someday you'll all have to learn to kill. Neatly." Something strange flashed across her face before it settled. "But I can't help you. I _won't_ help you either, but I couldn't anyway." She shoved her hands in her pockets, straightening with a nod.

"Wait." He stopped her from turning away. "Why… Why don't you like me?" He asked carefully, trying to not sound like he cared. "You don't care about why I do things or what I want to do, but you don't like me at all. Why?" Something seemed to falter behind her gaze, as if the question was more difficult than a simple explanation of her own feelings.

"Only if you answer me this." She said at length, looking down critically. "Which is more important to you: Your vengeance, or your village?" Sasuke found himself scowling quietly.

"I don't really care about the village." He grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. "It's nothing but a bunch of fools who see what they want and nothing else. They don't care about people, they just care about what people do." Visible shock this time, then something strange- Understanding? He found himself staring curiously as she suddenly snorted, shaking her head with a rueful smirk.

"They say you are what you do." She said, capturing his full attention. "That a shinobi is a killer because they kill- But they expect that from you. That a kid is a troublemaker because of his hobbies." Something flickered in her eyes as she met his gaze. "That a kid is an avenger because they want him to avenge his clan. Not because he wants to protect what he has left." The woman stared at him for a long moment, in which he grew somewhat uncomfortable even in his own thoughts. "I think they understand a bit more than you realize." She said at length, turning away. "It probably doesn't make anything better, but it's just something to remember." She paused, hesitation clear in her stance. "I hate this village too." She said quietly, but then she walked away without another word. Sasuke stared after her for a long moment, finding he had more questions than anything and no real answers.

Elsewhere, a dark-haired woman pulled out a brown notebook and flipped through its contents, staring at the page for a long moment.

She began scribbling out words as Sasuke walked home.

* * *

And the characterization has begun! But if the last part confused you, let me just get some stuff out. One, it's from Sasuke's point of view. As you may have noticed the first time, Sasuke has a fairly different way of looking at the world in my story. And in Sasuke's point of view, Rae is rather cold-hearted and unreasonable. We all know she doesn't like him because a: Sasuke was handed the acknowledgement Naruto always wanted on a silver platter and _still_ betrayed the village to get power. B: He killed Naruto in this same reasoning, or at least tried to. C: After Orochimaru, he goes batshit insane.

So really, she is somewhat unreasonable. Because none of that actually happened (yet) and Rae isn't really considering stopping it from happening. She's still thinking of what she's going to do to when it _almost_ happens and by then she'll be waiting with a big bowl of 'I told you so'.

Now Rae is finally starting to consider this though. And Sasuke... is still really himself, but just as confused about Rae. Because to him, it's someone who knows everything about him and, instead of supporting what he believes to be the most noble cause in the world, considers him a little bastard for it. _He_ doesn't know that Itachi is a martyr and wants him to live a relatively normal life after killing him. Remember he still doesn't know why Itachi left him alive.

So it might be OOC in Kishimoto's manga, but then in Kishimoto's manga Sasuke is... Well, you all know. So this is Rin's story. And in Rin's story, there are faint traces of humanity in Sasuke that may or may not be unlocked in the future.

A little deep for the story, but it needed to be done. Hope you don't all kill me. :D And Lee-kun! You guys know he's just as puppy-like as Naruto- Rae has to adore him after a while. (I'm secretly slightly creeped out by Lee, but it's okay; Rae isn't) Not much Gai, but still.

And on another note, I'm surprised you people haven't asked too much about Naruto's sexy jutsu. There was a reviewer that mentioned it briefly several chapters back, but otherwise you guys seem just fine with the total absense. But now you know there wasn't a complete lack of it, and that there's a reason you may have detected something of a sadistic streak in Rae. *evil laughter*

... Really long note. But tell me what you think of the chapter! Was this Sasuke unbelievable? Wondering what Anko did to Naruto? Thinking of Kakashi's magic jutsu that turns string into art? Credit to Risachantag from DeviantART for the idea, by the way. I read a comic on risachantag. deviantart .com/gallery/#/d4wdvj (no spaces) that shows a similar thing. Go read it if you have a chance.

Peace out.


	16. Revelations

Ummm… Hi? *BLAMBLAMSHOOTKILL*

I know! I know! Four months! I'm sorry! TT Real Life got busy and my head went kaput, but there is still many things that I must tell you of!

For one, I have entered college. Freaking whee. Two, I am now eighteen. Not much to you guys, but I had to update my profile. Three, I got deviantART! :D And some _really freaking awesome_ person posted fanart of this story! Kuroda Rae by Midnighter67! Unfortunately, my internet is going whack so I can only tell you the piece and artist. But if you type in 'Kuroda Rae' in the search box I can guarantee you'll only get a few results, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. xD

Four, this story is now one year old today! 8D Good in the sense that I'm still updating and people are still reading, bad in the sense that it's not even freaking halfway done with. And the reason why I couldn't let this terrible wait drag on any longer! Five, I looked at my stats _just now_, and I went HOLY $#%*&! OVER 750 FAVS ALONE. ONE HUNDRED _THOUSAND_ HITS! And the best part? I haven't even reached the Chunin Exams! 8000

Anyway, I have some rants and crap because this chapter is kind of short, but I do hope the next one will be up much, much sooner this time. :D

Some people ask about Gai and Rae. I can honestly say that while I know some people like to make the man into a taller version of Lee, declaring his undying love for just about any character he thinks is fantastic, in my little mind, Gai just isn't like that. Call me romantic or whatever crap, but I really like to think of the guy as a _real_ romantic, the kind who loves a person for inner traits and all that. Not a pretty pair of eyes and exotic looks (hint hint- _Lee and Sakura_).

… Because seriously. Lee could _not_ have been into Sakura for her personality in the first part. I'm just saying. Which is also part of why I like Lee less than Gai.

But onto your comments. In that light, Gai probably does have a crush on Rae. He thinks of her as a good friend, but there is very likely some form of crush involved. After all, she's apparently this hard-working soul born worse off than his own student who's saving the village with some secret mission _and_ raising the village pariah all on her lonesome. He's impressed, but he's not in love.

Should this be a good time to mention in the very first drafts of this story, when I was _really_ trying to make it unique, this was actually going to be Raex_Gai_? But as enjoyable as the two were to write in scenes together, they just didn't click. Oh well.

On that note, someday I might just post a GaixOC fic. Something short like a oneshot.

Enjoy.

* * *

Rae was still left reeling for three days after her little visit. During which Team Seven was still out on missions and too busy to bother her again, though she was strangely grateful. Naruto did stop by once, after all, if only to complain about how strange Sasuke was being. And then it turned into an exciting account of how Kakashi was giving him these awesome exercises, and how they would make him really busy but Rae-chan understood, didn't she? Because he of course had to get much stronger so he would be Hokage and-

Well, she hadn't seen any of the others either. Not even the idiot teacher on her nightly jogs. And she herself was faintly busy, having meetings with not only the Hokage, but their new apparent conspirator, Jiraiya. Though he was goofy and seemed to enjoy teasing Rae to the point of wanting to _strangle_ him, he was just a bit too much like Naruto to really hate his presence altogether.

But then Rae sometimes wanted to strangle the little blonde too, so it was okay.

Now she was leaning on the counter of the bar at Ichiraku's, trying to concentrate on her book and in reality counting the minutes until her shift ended. Teuchi had been kind enough to grant her shifts instead of asking her to stay the entire day, seeing how she had been attending meetings with the Hokage almost weekly. Even the Hokage was in on it, only asking for her presence afterwards. She was grateful, but now work was starting to feel like school.

Because she swore the stupid clock was going much slower than before, and she looked up from her book to send it a dirty look. Coincidently, as she looked up, she thought she caught a flash of pink in her peripheral vision, but when she looked it had vanished almost immediately.

… Weird. Rae shrugged and returned to her book. It could have been some kind of flower or something. Even if she had _sworn_ it was-

"Rae-san?"

"Gah!" Rae all but threw herself backwards, her book flying against the wall and her head following before she managed to stumble so her back instead collided. But then the book hit the top of her head and she was on the ground, groaning and growling as she pulled herself up.

"… Sorry."

"Sakura." Rae pulled herself up slowly, rubbing her head and setting her book on the counter. "You're great and all, but I want to live to twenty-five. It would be silly if I died of a heart attack, wouldn't it?" Sakura was standing before the counter with a sheepish look on her face, watching the woman before her.

"Sorry," she repeated. Rae sighed and gave her head one last rub.

"Well, I've recovered. Want something?" Sakura shook her head, looking down with a hesitant expression that made Rae nearly groan again. She was still reeling from _one_ visit, damn it! Now _Sakura_ was going to do something that left her reeling and confused about life in general?

Because now Sasuke was something that Rae couldn't seem to stop thinking about, and when she did her head hurt. A lot. Because not only did it sting her pride that the kid had shown up her heartfelt beliefs on his general character for years now, but had also… well… _related_ to her.

She thought she had a Sasuke-like countenance because of some nasty collaboration of the universe. She had never considered that it was because the kid was just like her in several aspects, and it hurt her general being to think that she'd been mistreating a kid as sad as herself just because of a television series from her childhood.

Because she was really starting to question if she was in the right universe these days.

"Rae-san… You work for the Hokage, right?" Rae shook herself from her thoughts, staring at the pink-haired girl before her that was fiddling with her long hair.

"… In general, I guess." She shrugged, motioning for the girl to sit with a suppressed sigh. If the girl wanted to talk, it was hard to deny her that. She didn't like to think she was growing fond of her, not really, but it was easy to admit the girl was… She was… There was a kind of…

… Okay, so she had a soft spot. Stupid maternal instincts. She was getting _old_, dammit.

"Why do you do… whatever it is you do?" Sakura continued, still not quite looking at the woman. "I mean… Naruto says he's a ninja because he wants to protect everyone, right? I… Sasuke-kun wouldn't give me a good answer, and I didn't really ask Kakashi-sensei…" Rae had to blink sluggishly for a moment, but after a moment decided to just answer the question to the best of her abilities.

"I do it because I can," she said at length, a bit uncomfortable with the talk but unable to send the girl away. Because now she was looking up with wide, green eyes and she was reminded of Naruto's puppy days, as she called them. The boy just didn't listen like he used to anymore. "You know… It's not as simple as wanting to protect everyone." She sighed, drumming her fingers on the counter and staring at her covered book in thought. "I mean, I _want_ to protect everyone, but there are… other ways to. I can beat the crap out of people who want to hurt Naruto, but only some drunk idiots. But it doesn't change anything, you know?" Rae shook her head, biting her lip in deep thought. Really, really deep thought, because this was something she'd never really considered.

"People… really don't like Naruto, do they?" Sakura suddenly asked at length, and Rae snorted.

"No," she said flatly, shifting her weight to her other foot. "They don't. And I can't change that by beating them up." She stared at the counter again. "But… I guess it's because I think that what I'm doing now can change it," she said almost incredulously, resting her chin on her hand and her elbow on the counter. "Not just Naruto's situation… Everyone else's, I suppose." Well, there was a line of thought she never thought she'd have. "If you thought an entire world was going to be in peril, you'd want to help. Not just because you live in the world, but because everyone you cared about was in it. But you can't always save it by just beating up the bad guys. You need to not only _change_ the bad guys so they stop, but change the world so it doesn't repeat itself." Sakura was staring at her with wide eyes that looked almost confused, so Rae elaborated. "People aren't born bad guys, Sakura. Other people make them that way, whether they know or not." Which was nagging something at the back of her mind, but she pushed it away at the moment. "It… hurts them, I guess. And you can either hurt them worse, or you can heal them."

Okay, serious niggling and nagging. Rae scratched at her head and pressed on. "I think what I'm doing is healing, even if I'm not doing it myself. I don't have the capability to heal them myself. So I leave that to others to fix the world, but I know how to help them to the best of _my_ abilities. See?" Sakura was silent, staring at her with her green eyes swimming in thought and a bit of doubt.

"… _Is_ the world in peril?" she asked at length, worry taking over her features as Rae quickly backpedaled.

"I, uh, didn't say that. Not specifically… Just an example." Sakura seemed relieved, but Rae was already swimming in guilt. "But just… Be careful, Sakura." She sighed, reaching out and ruffling the girl's head much like she might have done to Naruto. Except the girl didn't have the same kind of spikes and it made her give a sour face that almost made Rae smile. Almost. "Really, though." She leaned forward to show the girl she was being serious. "You're a good kid, and I don't want you to be hurt. It doesn't always make someone a bad guy, but it can still make something nasty if you don't know how to help yourself. See?" Sakura smiled up at her and Rae shifted almost uncomfortably. It was adorable how the girl seemed to look up to her suddenly, but…

"Thank you, Rae-san." She beamed. "You're still kind of rude, but you're really cool!" Rae rubbed her arm.

"… Thanks… I think."

"And now I know what I need to do!" The kunoichi hopped off the stool. "I've been trying to get Sasuke-kun to like me because he'd want to take care of me! But he's hurt, so I need to be able to heal _him_ instead! I can't do that if I'm so focused on making myself seem helpless!" Rae watched a strange glint come into the girl's eyes. "I'll kick ass and show him I can protect him right back! Shannaro!" And then meek Sakura was back, lowering her fist and looking absolutely mortified.

"… Wow," the woman could only say. "_That's_ how you impress people." Sakura gave a quick bow and darted away, face nearly as pink as her hair.

It wasn't until Rae was reminded by Ayame that she realized that her shift had ended ten minutes ago. And it wasn't until she was halfway to the park that she realized what had been nagging at her.

Sasuke _was_ hurt. And instead of trying to help, Rae had only been hurting him even worse because of something that didn't _have_ to happen.

She collided into a wall and her thoughts were jarred, but the memory of it still stayed even as she rubbed her head.

"Damn it!"

* * *

"Hey, Rae-chan!" It wasn't a week later that Rae found herself going to the training grounds where Naruto was still exercising, and he had…

"… Naruto." Naruto paused in his push-ups and Rae pointed to his back. "What is that?" That, referring to the large stack of colorful books that the boy was precariously balancing between his shoulder blades.

"Kakashi-sensei put them there." Naruto went down again, and though the stack wobbled, it stayed down. "Says they're good for concentration or whatever. It's _hard_ though!" Rae made a noise of interest and inspected the stack. The Icha Icha collection on the bottom she expected, but…

"Hm… Never seen this one before," she muttered to herself, picking up a purple novel just a few books away from the top and setting down Icha Icha Violence as replacement. After a moment of inspection she replaced it. "So, I was going to see if you wanted to find Hinata."

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto paused again, looking thoughtful. "… We haven't seen her in a while, huh?"

"Obviously." Rae watched him grimace as the stack wobbled again, though she didn't move. "Haven't seen you either, brat."

"I'm _busy_!" Naruto gave the ground a pitiful look. "I'm really sorry!"

"No, no… I know." Rae sat with a sigh, ruffling his hair when he paused. "Don't mind your lonely old nee-chan. She's only the one who loves you like a little brother and has no real life outside of such devotion. No big deal."

"Rae-_chaaan_!" She finally took pity and pinched his cheek.

"I know, I know. I'm just messing with you." She sighed again, watching him continue. "How many are you doing?"

"Until sensei comes back from his errands." The blonde grunted, balancing again. "Everyone else left a while ago, though."

"Well, I suppose I better stay so I can bother you," Rae concluded, and again she swapped her own book for the purple one and cracked it open. "Where did he get all these books?"

"Dunno." Naruto muttered, but Rae was thinking more about the book with mild surprise. It opened almost like Icha Icha, and as she flipped through the pages she saw it contained some of the same content, but it was a story about a slave and his owner, who he fell in love with. And sex. Lots of it.

She read with great curiosity. It was a typical romance story, and while the intimate scenes weren't as perverted as Jiraiya's, the fantasy world it was in was much more interesting. So far the owner had been cursed by an oni-baba and the slave was caring for her with tear-jerking love, leaving Rae to finally lay on her back in the grass and simply enjoy the nice story.

Maybe she _should_ expand her reading collection a bit.

"Boo." Rae twitched, but for once she didn't make a scene when surprised. It was getting old these days; probably because she'd been hanging around too many ninja. Damn ninja sneakiness. "… That was disappointing."

"Live with it." Rae finished the paragraph and snapped the book shut, glaring up at the masked man as Naruto flopped to the ground with a sigh of relief. "You get a serious kick out of my terror, don't you?" Kakashi scratched the back of his head as she picked herself up.

"… Kind of." Rae threw the book at him, which he caught with infuriating ease. "So why are you here?" he continued, snapping the book shut and setting it back on the pile on the ground. "Did you need Naruto for something?"

"… Not really," Rae muttered reluctantly, knowing she looked like a sulky child and really too peeved to care. "I was just bored."

"Well, you shouldn't interfere with shinobi training regardless." Kakashi waggled a finger in her face, and she scowled at it. But he almost sounded… half-serious. Almost. "If he's going to work hard, he can't always be bothered in the middle of training." … And he was so infuriating and _right_ at the same time and Rae shoved down the _very_ childish urge to kick something. Something probably protected by ninja speed and strength and a cup for good measure.

Damn ninja strength. And damn ninja logic. But Rae sighed out and did her best to let it go (after a brief mental image of his finger being bitten off) and slumped.

"I know, I know," she muttered, rubbing at her ear and looking away. "Sorry. I'm just… No, I'm sorry." Adults didn't make excuses, she told herself with a heavy sigh. She was twenty-two years old, and a goddamn grown woman. She wasn't going to tell this ass of a ninja that she was having a hard time adjusting to not having the little kid around to coddle and care for. Not at all. "Should I leave, or…" Kakashi waved a hand.

"Actually, we're finished for the day." His eye creased. "I just wanted to see if you would listen or not." Grown woman her _ass_. She was kicking that idiot in the balls. But before she could take a step Naruto was up and bouncing in excitement.

"Great! Let's go find Hinata-chan and get some ramen then! Wanna come, sensei?"

"No!" Rae sputtered before the jounin (or her angry half) could say anything, grabbing the boy's arm and all but dragging him away from the field.

They were just in sight of the town when a voice made Rae jump again. "You forgot your book." Whirling, the woman realized that the man was indeed holding her copy of Icha Icha Violence. With a growl, she snatched it away. He didn't move.

"… Thank you," she muttered, making to pull Naruto away again. To her ire, Kakashi continued following. "Don't you have a stack of books to clean up?" she demanded, but then glanced at the impatient Naruto. "Go on ahead and find her, hero. I'll meet you there."

"Okay!" Naruto ran off in a random direction as Rae turned her full attention to Kakashi, scowling.

"What are you doing?" she asked rudely, folding her arms. "I've been pissed off enough times today! If you don't have a serious question or reason to bother me, go irritate someone else!" Kakashi only raised an eyebrow.

"You are grumpy," he observed with a nod, frowning somewhat. "Was it something I said?" She twitched and he held up his hands. "I'm just saying, you seem more irritated than usual. Did you have a bad day or something?"

"That's none of your business!" Rae growled, but yes, she did have a bad day. With the chunin exams approaching, her meetings were becoming more frequent and more serious than before. This was the start of everything to come, and if it didn't go right then everything would be blown to hell.

Well, worst case scenario. But then again, best case scenario would simply be Orochimaru and his entire village dying of some mysterious plague, Suna deciding they needed some kind of stronger alliance with Konoha, and their jinchuuriki going tree-hugger overnight.

… Which wasn't exactly going to happen in all likelihood. Oh, and the thing with Sasuke was coming up too. And now that she was realizing that he wasn't a complete little bastard, she had no idea how to stop anything from happening. She had been asked by the Hokage to observe the boy, but all she'd given back was that he was the same as in her vision. A soulless, evil little devil that was only a hop and skip away from sheer insanity.

And it was all a complete and utter lie.

"Mm, a very bad day then." She was snapped back to the real world by Kakashi's musing. But she was just too tired to really work herself up again and only frowned back, rubbing at her temples.

"Yes," she said shortly, turning away. "Bad day. I'm not in the mood for this, so go away." But when she began to walk in the direction of the ramen stand, Kakashi was _still_ following her. Determined to ignore him, Rae only marched up to the stool and waved off Ayame, folding her arms sourly and waiting for Naruto.

"… You know that Kurenai's team is on a mission, don't you?" Urgh, her _head_. _Why_?

"You didn't think to tell the kid that went off searching for them?" she demanded sharply, standing and glowering at the man who only held up his hands again.

"I just wanted to ask you something alone…"

"Then just ask damn it all! If there's anything I hate besides bastards and traitors, it's beating around the bush!" His eyebrow raised again, but he nodded.

"I'm still curious about your mission," he said bluntly, letting his arms fall as Rae breathed in and out. This idiot would be the _death_ of her. But then his words sunk in and she paused. "It obviously involved my team." He folded his arms seriously. "The team, which has not only become rather close to me, but you as well. If there is any manner of harm to befall these children, it is not only _my_ responsibility, but _you_ who will be seeing the results. You've become something of a role model for Sakura, and even Sasuke seems… more than a little interested in your thoughts. And of course, Naruto is your little brother." Rae swallowed at that, averting her eyes. "Rae-san, if this is something important, I need to _know_." He said flatly, not at all like his usual joking tone. It was hard to think of the irritating idiot as a jounin and experienced _ninja_, but Rae nodded slowly. "Do you not trust me with your information?" he asked seriously, and Rae turned to stare at him for a long moment in thought. Trust him… She didn't know him, really. But then again, she did.

She knew he was Minato's student, an occasional rule-breaker and would do anything for his team. She knew he was ANBU and experienced and the genius of his own generation, and completely loyal to the Hokage.

If she couldn't trust him, then who else was there?

Her shoulders slumped in mild defeat and she nodded with a sigh. "I do trust you," she admitted, rubbing her arm and looking away from his single eye. Who knew it could be so intimidating? "You're… right, I guess. You have a right to know. I… No, You're right." Again with the excuses thing. She really needed to work on that. "Yeah, I'll tell you." Kakashi blinked slowly before his eye creased, looking generally pleased with himself.

"That's better than what I hoped for," he chirped, and Rae scowled and decided she liked him better when he wasn't being an ass. "So will you tell me now?"

"Tell what now?" Rae turned expectantly, but it wasn't Naruto who stood behind them. Instead it was Jiraiya, who was looking between the two with a grin. "And look at this! My two biggest fans- on a lunch date!"

"Not now, damn it!" Rae snapped, slamming a fist on the counter. Kakashi only sighed in exasperation and shook his head.

"Jiraiya-sama," he greeted with a wave of his hand. "What brings you here?"

"I'm actually here for the girlie," the toad sage responded easily, turning his attention to the woman that slumped a little in her seat. "Urgent matter and all that. You know the drill." Rae muttered under her breath and slid from her seat, but she put on a business face and nodded.

"Can I come?" Kakashi asked, frowning under his mask. "I believe Rae-san was about to fill me in on the situation."

"Oh?" Jiraiya glanced at Rae, and she nodded. "In that case… Sure."

"Then you stay here and wait for Naruto," Rae decided immediately. "He's supposed to meet us here- Tell him I'm at a meeting, that it's Kakashi's fault, and if I catch you two at the hot springs that I'll toss his ass right back in the woman's bath." Jiraiya's eyebrow raised incredulously, but then her words sank in and he sputtered.

"Oi- Wait! Why do I have to babysit?"

"Good bye, Jiraiya-sama~!" Kakashi called over his shoulder, creasing his eye as he followed Rae down the street. "Don't forget to give him ramen!" Jiraiya was left gaping, mind floundering at how he had been tricked into meeting his godchild.

… But then the idea sunk in his mind and he sighed, turning to sit on the stool. Maybe there were some things he ought to see about after all.

* * *

Naruto returned with a tired pant, eye ticking uncontrollably as he stormed to the ramen stand. He'd just spent the past hour searching the entire village for Hinata, and the last place he looked only had Bushy Brows in it! Not only was he subject to a massive crushing hug in which there was no teacher to save him, but they had also informed him that her team had left on a mission!

But as he reached the stand he did consider again. Maybe… Maybe this was a test! Kakashi-sensei did seem a little… secretive in some of his training- was he only being tested for his patience? For his ninja finding skills? Being aware of his surroundings, like he had once told him that he needed to work on?

As he picked up his menu, he nodded to himself. It was definitely a test. And he'd found out that Hinata was gone, which meant he could get his ramen now! And Rae-chan would definitely…

… It then occurred to the boy that there was only one other patron at the stand, and it was neither Kakashi or Rae. It was an older man with white hair in a long ponytail, strange clothing that he'd once seen at a festival and weird marks under his eyes. And he was watching him with an odd expression, almost as if thinking about someone else.

But the moment passed as soon as it was registered, and the man was looking down at him with a wide grin. "Hey there!" Naruto blinked rather slowly.

"… Hi?" He looked around again. Still no other adults. "Um…"

"Your sister told me to wait for you." And the man had his attention again. The older man's grin widened. "Asked me to get you ramen. She and your teacher had to meet the Hokage for some grown up meeting." Naruto slumped in his seat somewhat, disappointment sinking into his mind. "Hey! Don't get like that! Don't you know who I am?"

"No," Naruto said shortly, still sore over the loss of his time with Rae. It seemed like they couldn't do anything together these days- he was always training, and she was always in meetings. He didn't notice the man that looked mildly offended, but when the man leaped from his stool the blonde gave a start.

"Kid! Pay attention! I am the great and legendary toad sage, the awesome ninja only heard of in tales!" the man declared, holding out a hand towards the sky and another towards the blonde. Rather blankly Naruto noted that he had a weird swirl in the middle of his palm. "I am Jiraiya the sannin! Not to mention the fabulous author of the ever-popular series, Icha Icha!" Oh, he knew that.

"Rae-chan's books?" Jiraiya nodded, and Naruto considered again. "And… you wrote the Legend of the Gutsy Ninja!" he exclaimed, feeling rather excited when the man nodded again. "That's my favorite book! My name's Naruto too! Believe it! Someday I wanna be a hero just like in your book!" Naruto fished in his pocket for his worn copy, holding it up proudly. "I'll be Hokage someday, too! And I'll be the greatest of them all! Believe it!"

His excitement crashed down when the man began to laugh, but at the sight of his scowl Jiraiya held up his hands. "I believe you, kid." Naruto furrowed his brow as the man grinned. "I'm just enjoying your enthusiasm! But hey! With that kind of attitude, there's no doubt you'll be the greatest Hokage in existence!" Naruto's eyes grew round as the man ruffled his hair. "That book wasn't my most popular, but…" His eyes flashed in an unreadable expression as he looked over the book. "It's a special book. Take good care of it." Naruto nodded vigorously, hands clutching the book a little closer.

"Rae-chan got it for my birthday," he said quietly. "You… You really think I can do it?" Jiraiya's gaze tempered out to a more genuine smile.

"I'm the great toad sannin, kid! If I think you'll be Hokage, then you can know you'll be the best of them all!" He gave a start when the blonde suddenly hugged his side tightly, grinning so widely his whiskered face might have split in half.

There wasn't too much said when he pulled back and turned to order ramen, but Jiraiya watched his sunny grin turn on himself and thought he would be hanging around Konoha just a bit more often.

* * *

So… Jiraiya! Yay! I know you guys like to bash on the pervert, but he really is another favorite character. And there's no bashing in here, remember?

To try and make up for the long wait (and freakishly short chapter), I will add this: You guys think Rae is good at fitting into this story, right? Well, can you guess which Naruto character she is strongly based off of to achieve this? That's right, I took a Naruto character and I turned it into a snarky grown woman. Obviously, there are a lot of differences. But otherwise Rae is really how I think this character would have reacted in a few of her situations. But definitely not all.

Want a hint? They're all over the place! From how Rae acts around certain characters to even what she wears and looks like! If this character had died and been reborn in our world, they would have been born as Kuroda Rae. Seriously.

Now my dear readers. Think you know my character? Think you understand her parallels with others and even her grumpy attitude? Come on! I'd love to see which character you think she is most like- It's probably obvious to some of you, but no one else has mentioned it… Ah, but once you know, you'll be _stupefied_. And you will come back calmly and say: Rin? You are _mad_.

There may be a little slapping involved, but it's virtual. So it's slightly more okay.

Oh, and someone asked about other stories with this plot. They're practically everywhere, actually. Ha… Seriously. I'm not being too original here. Some of them are on my favorites, like Natsuki. There another one, but I can't remember the name… Just take a look. Lots of people write this kind of stuff! I'm flattered you guys are so into mine, but don't forget to look at other people's! Unless you aren't into that kind of thing, but then you wouldn't be here, or… Um…

… Anyway. Don't forget to check out the fanart! As soon as my internet gets fixed, I'll have a link on my profile! The next chapter of Farblondzhet is halfway done, with a special new character introduction, so be on the lookout for that! Fang Dimension is still a big favorite of the polls, so it should be posted before the end of the year depending on how far I get into it!

And for those who think that these past months were spent not writing a damned thing, tell that to the two hundred forty-seven pages of Aberration I have written, rewritten, and then scrapped as a result of it not being any good. _I AM NOT FREAKING KIDDING._

Peace out!


	17. Stress

God I love you people. Most of all for putting up with my crap. TT

To show my appreciation, I won't drag out the question much longer: Who is Kuroda Rae based off of?

The answer is Uchiha Obito. Dun dun duunnn!

Yes, I turned the spazzy, noisy little Uchiha into a snarky grown woman. Admittedly, because not much of Obito's personality is revealed besides the most obvious a lot of this is based on my personal characterization of the kid. When Fang Dimension eventually comes out you can see more of that.

But seriously. Rae's loudmouth declarations? Her random-but-true excuses? Her love-hate relationship between her and Kakashi? She even wears dark clothes and goggles! Now that you people know, you can look forward to that sudden moment when Kakashi realizes how eerily similar much of Rae's personality is to his dead friend, neh?

And I was very, very shocked. You know how many people got it right? Two. _Two_. Congratulations to reviewers realityislost (and no, you will not be slapped) and Frozen Amarillis! You guys rrroooccckkk! The rest of you did have good guesses though- Naruto was close, but he doesn't have that same dark (humorous) rage and the excuses. Kakashi's general personality is based on Obito's, but even then he's too laid-back. Anko is definitely sadistic, and Sasuke's just as crotchety...

But Rae isn't Obito. Remember there are just as many similarities as differences. But she's based off Obito.

With that out of the way, I love you guys. When a story has over eight hundred reviews before reaching the second major plot point, you know one side or the other is doing something right. My self esteem doesn't give me credit, so you guys just plain rock! :D

I typed all this up somewhere between remembering that I really did like this story and realizing that I had way too many reviews for someone that hasn't gotten a third through her story and is still taking English classes at community college. So I'm still working on my grammar and such, if it's entirely obvious.

Enjoy.

* * *

For the longest moment Kakashi stood very still before the Sandaime's desk, his single eye staring ahead in blank thought. The Hokage stared back with equal stillness, expression just as blank and patient, but off to the side Rae felt herself twitch just a bit.

She somehow had the feeling there was some kind of communication going on between them. She wasn't sure how, or even why (they'd finished the entire explanation about five minutes ago) but either way it was only hurting her stress levels. Damn ninja _everything_.

Quite suddenly, Kakashi snorted. Rae twitched again. "What's so funny?" she demanded irritably.

"Nothing," he said, but then he snorted again. The older man smiled a little. "I suppose it's like hearing that Naruto wants to be Hokage," the Hatake explained with a crease in his eye. "It's perfectly valid considering all his benefits, but then you meet a ramen-loving kid that can't keep his mouth shut and _worry_." He snorted once more, tilting his head in her general direction. "And then I'm hearing that you, Rae-san, hold the key to our future in your head. The same head you constantly crash into walls, poles, and various people, fill with Jiraiya-sama's most popular series, and occasionally bang against a wall intentionally." Rae knew she was forming an ugly expression as her brow ticked madly, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Her mind was blanking on anything remotely witty and comeback-worthy (not helping any future argument at all about her mental well being), and finally she decided that it simply wasn't worth it.

She folded her arms and turned away sullenly, ignoring his damnable smile. Instead she listened as the Hokage chuckled in brief amusement. The older man then leaned forward over his desk, hands folded in serious business. "While I suppose there may be valid points to your argument, Kakashi-" She didn't even argue back, damn it! How was it an argument? "-Rae is still a valuable asset regardless. This is why she was placed on your team, to watch for signs of future developments."

"Hm..." Kakashi sighed as well, suddenly looking a little less annoying and a bit more serious himself. "It can't be helped, I suppose. Sasuke's a... well-intentioned kid, but... I suppose I can see how it would go in that direction."

"I don't." Both men turned to Rae, who, for a moment, hadn't even realized she had spoken out loud. She glanced back when they were silent and jolted in realization, shaking her head. "I just- I mean- Ugh." She huffed, rubbing her temples. "Look, he _is_ a 'well-intentioned' kid. He _cares_ about his team to the point where he'd tell _me_, someone that he very obviously dislikes. And... for a good reason." She turned her gaze to the wall, wondering why so much knowledge of the future still had her wanting to go to the past all over again. "If he cares... No, that's not right. Because he _does_ care, but so much that he could... _Shit_." So much that he would pull an Itachi, making himself into a bad guy in order to get closer to his goal of _protecting_.

Because somewhere in the Valley at the End, Sasuke had left Naruto alive even after going so far for a goal that seemed futile.

"Rae-san?" Kakashi gripped her shoulder, making her jump. She met his dark eye and swore again, shaking her head vigorously.

"He left him alive. _Alive_. I didn't even... _Fuck_!" She stomped her foot, feeling quite foolish and childish and everything that didn't feel good to a grown woman in general. "He didn't try to kill Naruto!" she snarled out loud, glaring fiercely at the wall. "Naruto was unconscious- completely helpless! Even with the Kyuubi, there are ways of shutting down a human body permanently! He didn't try to kill him at all!" She paused then, shaking her head. "But the- He pierced his shoulder, which should have..."

"With the Chidori?" Kakashi's brow furrowed faintly at her nod. "It's a good stabbing jutsu for sure, but it also creates a natural cauterization surrounding the initial wound. If you don't destroy something important with the first strike, it's very unlikely to bleed out any internal organs."

"... Ah." Rae felt her stress crash around her ears, leaving her rather blank and still. "Of course. He used it before then, and it didn't kill Gaara either- he didn't even know about Shukaku. He's a very smart kid. He would have found some way to get Naruto's heart if he really tried." Kakashi's hand lifted, but she didn't bother seeing his eighth of an expression. "So I'm just stupid. Okay."

"... I think you need a vacation." Kakashi actually sounded serious, but she waved him away.

"I think you need a vacation, Rae," the Hokage echoed, making her pause. "Forgive my age; you are not mentally equipped to handle this kind of stress with no way of venting as shinobi do. You very much need a vacation."

"... Yes... Hokage-sama..." She felt a little like crying for some odd reason, but pushed aside the notion. She was too old to cry. "If you're sure..."

"The Chunin Exams are still several weeks away," the older man assured her. "The letters to Chiyo have all been prepared and sent, and the defense preparations are continuing with Jiraiya. We have enough information to establish a ground plan, and you can help to polish it when you feel sufficiently recovered."

"Okay." Rae nodded quietly, reaching to take her little notebook before stopping, instead pocketing her hand. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Have a good vacation, Rae- perhaps spend a bit more time with Naruto."

"I'll... do that. Thank you." She walked away with a quiet sigh, closing the door behind her.

Kakashi turned to the Hokage with a silent question, but the older man only sighed and shook his head. The Hatake walked away with a polite nod, vanishing into the halls.

Rae walked to the bookstore after a brief stop by the ramen shop. She originally planned to find Naruto and Jiraiya, but the two were talking and laughing together over empty bowls of ramen and she'd watched for a moment before turning away. She hadn't been paying much attention to the kid, but Jiraiya technically had a right to spend more time with him. And originally, he was the closest thing Naruto had to a real family. Literally, too.

So she walked away and tried not to think about the irrational _hurt_ that stemmed from her thoughts, instead deciding to visit the bookstore. There were very few people in the adult romance section, as usual, but she thumbed along the spines until a familiar purple color stilled her hand. After a moment of consideration she pulled out the book, leafing through the pages until she reached where she had left off in Kakashi's copy.

She didn't realize just how absorbed she was until she reached the end of the book, the sun setting outside and her back sore from her seated position against the bookshelves. With a quiet sigh she began to replace the book, only to find herself picking out two more from the same author and purchasing all three. She walked away with a colorful assortment and decided that even if he was a crinkly-eyed asshole, Hatake Kakashi still had good taste in books.

* * *

Kakashi was a grown shinobi of six and twenty years, trained in the arts of assassination, element-manipulation, army-slaying, and just about every branch of _killing_ that was possible in a single human being. Besides all that he was a damn grown man and had seen terrors that would send those of lesser countenance into pitiful states and fetal positions.

He very freely admitted that the idea that Kuroda Rae was the key to saving the world scared him. But only to himself. The sudden knowledge that she'd had a great hand in every plan to help was enough to make him suddenly feel as though a great burden had been placed on himself as well, that mutual stress of sharing secrets that came with being a shinobi. Except he was keeping the secret of Orochimaru, Uchiha Itachi, the greatest massacre in the shinobi world being a conspiracy, Uchiha Madara being alive and very well on his way to actual world domination, along with the fact that it was a battle that they were all very likely to _lose_ in the end.

And he watched Rae walk out of the Hokage's office and wondered very deeply at _how_ she hadn't snapped from the stress a long time ago. The Hokage seemed weary himself of the trouble, but assured the Hatake that Rae, despite her foreign background and strange customs, was still relatively trustworthy. Mainly in the sense that she had a very healthy fear of anyone that had the ability to kill her without batting an eyelash (even if he himself seemed to be separated from that category) and stubbornly clung to a promise that she wouldn't abandon a little kid she loved like family.

She was still a funny person. That was just about all there was to it, save for now he would be a little more careful on those 'accidents' that had her tripping over herself into a wall. And maybe step to the side when she was about to collide with him, even if he wasn't affected himself.

… _Maybe_ he shouldn't push her until she was ready to snap. Just to preserve her mentality. It was rather important at the moment, after all, that she was able to preserve what... _scattered_ brain power she had left.

Besides, there were more important things than picking on Rae, no matter how amusing it was. Sakura had just come up to him recently, asking for extra training. Personally he wondered if he could really help her in the long run- he didn't have the greatest stamina, even if his chakra control was good. The girl wasn't all that suited for ninjutsu, but if Rae was right (and the Sandaime seemed to think so) there was great potential for a very terrifying kind of taijutsu.

Kakashi walked home that day, flipping through his book and deciding that he needed to step up his own game. He knew he wasn't ready himself for what was coming, and neither were his students. Sasuke took in ninjutsu easily, but maybe he could help with his speed... Just in case he didn't turn out to betray the village, of course. Sakura, he could definitely give a crash course on taijutsu- she was probably suited for a style like his own, where he didn't take as many hits and struck only what he was sure would be devastating. Naruto's strength combined with Rae's own training was good, but he would probably need the opinion of an expert.

Even with the impending doom of the world ending at the hands of a madman, Kakashi still groaned softly at the idea of asking Maito Gai for help.

* * *

So... I tried to make this a long chapter, but let's face it- you guys were starting to freak out. At least I got back a bunch of inspiration for writing, oddly enough. Sometimes the best cure for writer's block is to just write regardless.

Sorry about the shortness, really- I'll try harder next time. Oh! And more fanart- Kuroda Rae by Kiri-Razael on deviantART! The link is on my profile- make sure to go and admire the awesomeness! In fact... it really made me want to draw my own Rae. -.-;; I'm pretty sure I shouldn't, because let's face it- I didn't make a deviantART profile because I draw. I did it for _looking_ at art (especially sexy, sexy pictures of Kakashi 3).

… Well, I already drew it anyway- it's not as grand as the fanart at all, and it's really me experimenting with photoshop, but there you go. Go fanart! See you guys soon- hopefully sooner than last time!

Peace out.

_PS: Isn't my grammar so much better~? English class is handy!_

_PPS: I AM NEVER ABANDONING THIS STORY. BELIEVE IT! Just in case you guys get worried. :D_


	18. Something Different

Holy shit guys. Holy shit holy shit holy _shit_.

Let's do a brief monologue. A little less than two years ago, a story was posted with a single chapter. Days later, this chapter had accumulated one review...

Fast-forwarding rapidly, we have over one _thousand_. There is no cap lock, no texting lingo, no amount of emotes or exclamation points that can express my utmost shock and awe at this sheer amount of support.

IT DOESN'T MEAN I'M NOT GOING TO TRY THOUGH! HOLY SHIT R U GUYS AWESOME OR WUT? 8DDD

Oh, quick note about that brief thing that recently happened- please forget it happened. I would love to say something like I'd been hacked, bribed, or even threatened into posting something like that and making you guys all jump around, but no. It was a brain splurt. A very bad one and I _beg_ of you to not bring it up again. Sooorrryyy! TT_TT

Whoo, I love this story. Anyway, sorry about the first part, if it seems off or something- I wanted to try a quick scene in Gai's point of view, if you can believe it. :P He really is another favorite of mine, second only to Kakashi. I like to think of him as... Well, as a word that can only be defined as 'Gai'.

God, spastic characterization is too much fun. Anyway! This chapter isn't really that funny or fun otherwise. It's still a little short, too, but I'm trying to kick my updates back into gear! Here's where things start getting... _serious_.

Enjoy.

* * *

"W-Wha... M-My, eternal rival...!" For a long, tense moment Maito Gai stared directly at Hatake Kakashi, something numb and terrified overwhelming his being. Kakashi exhaled very softly, lazy eye locking onto his.

"Please help train Naruto," he repeated blandly. "He's good, but his taijutsu is still reliant on Rae-san's civilian style and I-" Kakashi cut himself off when a punch was aimed for his head, dodging with a wide eye. "Oi-!"

"You despicable being!" Gai roared, rage bursting from his heart. "I had thought to call you my rival was an honor!" He accented his metaphorical punch with a very real one, crashing into the tree the Hatake had been standing in front of. "But here you are, daring to show your face before me like this!" Kakashi dodged again as he slammed another punch into midair, whirling and landing a hard kick on his chest. Kakashi oomphed as he was blown back into a cliffside, only to suddenly vanish in a puff of smoke.

Gai whirled on instinct, catching the real Kakashi with one hand and pausing at the metal at his throat. He continued with his rant, unwilling to let his justified fury become doused with this hollow threat. "You would dare give up on your students?" he cried, the power of his voice throwing the man's silver hair back. "They are but young seeds, Kakashi! Youthful spirits that soak in everything that we blossomed young men must nourish with purity! That-"

"Maito Gai, will you _stop that._" Kakashi sighed heavily, still acting nonchalant even in the face of his heartfelt words! "I am _not_ giving up on _anyone_, I'm _asking_ you, as a taijutsu _expert_, to give him some tips." … Hm? This was... Gai felt his eyes water, both shame and great joy overcoming him. He released the man with a sob, clutching his heart.

"Ah-! This Youth! This forgiving heart, this glorious maturity! Surely, _surely_ this is the day... I have seen my eternal rival sprout with the wings of glory, soaring higher than even I!" The world sparkled around him as he thought he could envision it, his glorious rival- so caring, unselfish, and humble!- sprouting great white wings and rising into the heavens.

Somewhere past his veil of tears, Kakashi's eye ticked violently. Gai certainly didn't notice.

"U-Um, Gai-sensei...?" Oh! Gai whirled instantly to see Tenten staring at him, looking worried as ever. He feared for her Youth. "Can we go home now...?"

"Ah, yes!" Gai clapped his hands together, taking his teacher pose- he'd perfected it quite nicely this past year. "Dismissed! I will see you all at five in the morning, ready to take in the glorious day as ever!"

"You can count on our Young minds!" Lee assured him, eyes sparkling in adoration. "We will always be ready to soak in the great knowledge!" Gai burst into tears, turning his face away into his arm.

"S-Such glorious Youth...!" Neji left without a word, save for those he muttered under his breath. Gai wondered if he would ever be like Kakashi's young students, so eager for knowledge their own teacher would expand his reach to fulfill their ever-growing needs!

It was times like these he greatly admired Hatake Kakashi.

"Look, Gai," Kakashi suddenly said, sighing out. "Rae's taijutsu is good, but it's very defensive. Naruto's been working past that, but my own style is just as defensive and isn't suited for him at all. He can't spar with the others because he has too many breaking habits, can't keep learning everything from Rae because she's not a shinobi, and needs someone to polish what he's teaching himself. _Will you help or not?_"

"But of course, my rival!" Gai declared instantly, inwardly beaming- well, outwardly too. "I look forward to the chance to be a part of Naruto-kun's blossoming process, to nourish his spirit as it eagerly takes in the knowledge of yesterday, making room for the glorious future of tomorrow in his-" He paused, suddenly feeling... like he was alone. "... Kakashi?" Before him was nothing but a blank scarecrow, a humorous face painted on along with a little note.

_Great. I'll send him your way tomorrow._

"..."

* * *

Kakashi came to the field the next day at nine, humming cheerfully as he brought along his scrolls. Sakura instantly jolted upright as Sasuke yawned, rubbing his neck.

"You're late," he muttered irritably. "The dobe's missing. What did you do?"

"I sent him on a little training spree with a friend of mine," the jounin chirped, dropping the pile in his arms and letting it scatter across the grass. "I think you'll all take turns with different jounins- your taijutsu is too uniform, Sasuke. As for your genjutsu use, you just rely too much on the Sharingan. I'll send you to Kurenai. Sakura... Actually, I'm taking you on myself." Sasuke frowned deeply as Sakura tilted her head.

"But sensei... Kurenai is the genjutsu expert, and you said my control-"

"Overrides something like genjutsu. That's too basic for your potential." Kakashi waved a hand, kicking around the scrolls as he searched for the one he wanted.

"But what about me?" Sasuke demanded. "I'm a Sharingan user, and _you_ are the only other one in Konoha with the Sharingan. Why aren't I training under you? We should switch!" Kakashi paused in his kicking to pat a spiky head of hair, crinkling his eye.

"No way~" Sasuke twitched. But he didn't say anything more as Kakashi made a noise of discovery, picking up a scroll. "Found it! Sasuke, please take this to Kurenai-sensei- you're going to be late!" The Uchiha eyed him carefully, but walked away wordlessly. Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Alright! Sakura, your training begins now! Find the genjutsu!"

"... Genjutsu?" Sakura wrinkled her nose. "But... you just said-"

"Basics still need to be mastered. Now hurry along- we don't have all day!" The kunoichi twitched.

"Um, yes we do."

"... Oh. Right." Kakashi sat on the grass without a care. "In that case, I'll just take a nap. Good night." Sakura stared rather dumbly as he closed his eye and appeared to fall asleep almost immediately- she'd asked him for serious training! Not so he could just lay in a pile of scrolls and sleep with such vague instructions!

_Genjutsu my ass! I'll show him- bringing along such useless papers he doesn't plan on using_- Sakura paused. Considered. In all the weeks she'd known her teacher, he seemed to have a reason (no matter how ridiculous, and usually in hindsight only) for everything. Useless baggage was something he usually complained about, not brought along to make a mess that he would have to clean up.

She found the genjutsu, didn't she? She formed the seal and whispered the release command, flinching when the scrolls seemed to explode around her. Instead Kakashi was laying on a massive black bulldog, which sleepily considered her as she skipped back with a squeak.

"Oi, girly! Watch where you're stepping!" She whirled. A little pug with a lazy gaze glared back irritably, leaning away from her feet. "Took you long enough! No wonder he fell asleep!" The bulldog seemed to woof in agreement.

"A-Ah..."

"Oh, Pakkun! There you are~" The pug's expression seemed to flatten even more when Kakashi suddenly appeared, scooping him up with an eye crinkle. "Sakura, this is my cute little nin-dog, Pakkun! And this is my cute nin-dog, Bull!" Bull woofed. "Thank you for finding them. They get lost so easily."

"Will you cut that out-"

"So you take this little guy," Sakura yipped when the teacher pressed the little pug into her arms, nearly dropping him, "and I'll take this one!" Bull tilted his head. "And we're going to play fetch!" … Oh boy. Inner Sakura had a bad feeling about this.

"F-Fetch _what_?" Kakashi grinned. She swore it. His eye glinted in sadistic pleasure as his finger lifted, pointing at the damned.

"Oh Bull~! Fetch!"

"**Woof!**"

"_Eyaaahhh_!"

* * *

"So Kakashi... sent you _here_?" Kurenai stared down at the scroll in her hands, looking shocked. Sasuke didn't blame her. Ask a teacher for training, a man that shares his bloodline and _mastered_ it years ago, and what does he do? Sends him to the one woman- a _genjutsu_ expert- that he was naturally gifted to handle!

Maybe the guy was just starting to lose his marbles. Wasn't that what grey hair usually meant?

"Well... Alright. It's a little unusual, but I can't deny he may be on to something." The kunoichi pocketed the scroll with a sigh. "Shino, restrain him. Hinata, come here for a moment."

"Wait, wha-" Suddenly there were bugs all over him. With a yelp he flashed his Sharingan, hoping to disperse this nightmarish genjutsu. But what he saw then was worse- they were _eating_ at his chakra! They were real! Instantly he felt himself weakened as Hinata stood in front of him, lavender eyes worried.

"S-Sorry, Sasuke-kun..." Then she lightly poked the side of his head. Instantly pain exploded behind his eyes, making him cringe. Kakashi had done this... Why? But suddenly the bugs were retreating, his vision slowly clearing to see Kurenai standing over him, arms folded.

"Not bad, Hinata. Come on, Uchiha- get up. Trainings only started." She tossed him a red pill he instantly crunched in his teeth, feeling his strength return. He wobbled on his feet, clutching his head.

"W-What did you..."

"You're going to be sparring with Kiba and Akamaru. I'm going to be slipping in genjutsu all the while- it's a light spar, but if you're caught, you're dead. Ready?"

"Wait-" Suddenly a small white form tackled him to the ground. Sasuke rolled and kicked it off, watching Akamaru go sailing away with a yip. He had to dodge a slam from the Inuzuka, skidding back to survey the situation. He tried to flare his Sharingan and cringed at a burst of light in his vision, searing into his skull. The next moment there was a fist across his face, sending him crashing back into a tree.

"By the way, you can't use the Sharingan." Kurenai smiled a devious little smile as he nursed his throbbing jaw. "Just to make sure you aren't cheating." Then she vanished completely.

Sasuke clenched his jaw and raced forward with a yell, only to instantly be struck from his side by an invisible being. As he crashed to the ground he blearily realized that this wasn't going to be an easy fight.

* * *

By the time the three were together again, they didn't look as though they'd only been training for a single day. Sakura was covered in mud and fur, scratched and bruised from trees and being tackled by a massive bulldog. Sasuke was littered in bruises and rubbing away a headache rather irritably, as well as scratching the bandages over dog bites. Naruto was simply exhausted, flopped over the grass.

Kakashi looked none the worse for wear, cheerfully clapping for attention. "Welcome back, everyone~" he chirped. "Did we all have fun?" Three moans answered his question. Naruto groaned once more, rolling his head to better see the jounin.

"S-Sensei... Bushy Brows has a _scary_ team!"

"Why in the hell was I being chased by dogs all day?" Sakura exploded, fire blazing in her eyes as Inner Sakura clawed her way out. "You're crazy, damn it!"

"That was a dirty trick," Sasuke snapped, rubbing at his eyes again. "And a little counter-productive, don't you think? I need to learn to _use_ the Sharingan!" Kakashi considered the three. He then chuckled, waving away their complaints without a care.

"Well, you all got pretty beat up," he noted out loud. "Put in situations you've never encountered, you would have died a few thousand times over, wouldn't you say?" He looked to Naruto first. "You've never tried your martial arts on someone stronger than you, have you? It didn't even make them flinch half the time, did it?" The blond looked stunned. "And Sakura, you're good at genjutsu and chakra, but when there's a real dogfight, if you don't mind me saying-" Sakura twitched. "-you don't seem to stand a chance. And Sasuke, the Hyuuga are _not_ the only ones capable of working around your bloodline. You were vulnerable to the top genjutsu master because she had a specialist in her team." Sasuke simmered, but didn't respond.

Naruto raised a hand. Kakashi nodded for him to speak. "... You're crazy, sensei," the boy said. "Couldn't you just _tell_ us that kind of stuff?" The jounin considered this.

"... Nope." He turned away. "We'll be doing this once every week. If you can't handle it, you won't be able to pull together as a team to compensate for weaknesses." He glanced back to see their expressions, gaze serious. "I've been pretty relaxed with you kids, really. Letting you think of this kind of thing as a game and all. But if you can't grow stronger, you won't survive the next year." He pulled out a familiar book as they exchanged quiet gazes. "See you tomorrow, then. Make sure to get some sleep- we have a guest of our own tomorrow~" He vanished.

Naruto gazed at the sky in deep thought as Sakura brushed back her long hair, looking exhausted. Sasuke kicked the grass and muttered something incomprehensible. Naruto blinked from his daze suddenly, looking to where the jounin had disappeared.

"... _Damn_."

* * *

Night fell on Konoha with the same ease as ever, though for three jounins it came with an unnatural sense of darkness. They stood together at an old, weather-beaten stone, gazing at the names carved.

"Why did you call us here?" the man finally asked, stirring the group from their stillness. A fourth figure stood some feet from the stone itself, shadowed by the trees. "What's going on?"

"... Something's come up, you see." The darkened man carefully ran a hand through silver hair, single eye blank as ever. "What we're doing now... We can't anymore."

"The wars are over, Kakashi." A red-eyed woman folded her arms, frowning quietly. "All of the nations are doing this. We can push our kids, but we don't bend them backwards to make them too strong. You know that." There was a long moment of silence before the last man that had yet to speak lifted his gaze.

"The wars _are_ over... aren't they?" Asuma and Kurenai looked to Gai with a start, but Kakashi's gaze never flickered. Instead the Hatake stepped forward, inclining his chin a fraction.

"Something's come up," he repeated softly, "and if there aren't four teams to rely on each other, none of us will live through it." Now all three stared at him, but didn't interrupt as he closed his eye with a sigh. "The Chunin exams are coming up, aren't they?"

"Yeah." Asuma uneasily thumbed the collar of his vest. "You're not thinking something will happen then, are you?"

"The nations are at peace," Kurenai reiterated. "Not even Suna would dare attack us. Not in the midst of our own village."

"That's just the problem." Kakashi gazed back darkly, drawing their attention again. "It's a move so bold we haven't even considered it. What will we do if there _is_ an attack? Do any of the genin know about the bunkhouses for civilians? Can they kill a man or woman or child that attacks them?" It was his dark tone that kept them from arguing, but mostly his questions that kept them from responding. "This isn't about one bold move from an unseen enemy. We're relying on peace to protect them from the wars we grew up with, and that peace isn't going to last much longer."

"It would help if we knew what to prepare them for," Asuma retorted. "If you've found something, the Sandaime needs to know."

"The Sandaime's well aware of this." The silver-haired jounin tilted his gaze. "As for what to prepare for... I suppose in a worst-case scenario... something like the end of the world." It was a light wording, but no one called against the claim. Hatake Kakashi didn't call meetings like this to tell jokes- though younger than all of them, he'd always surpassed them when it came to being a pure kind of shinobi.

"... Why us?" Gai asked quietly. "There are other second-year genin teams, Kakashi. Other squads with more experience." Kakashi gave a nonchalant shrug.

"A little birdie had an idea." He turned away, raising a hand in a wave. "Good luck with the exams. The Sandaime's looking forward to them, after all." He walked back to the village uninterrupted, leaving the three to exchange quiet glances. Asuma pulled out a cigarette at length, striking a match.

"So the old man's still keeping secrets. Big ones." He shook out the match and inhaled deeply, looking rather stressed. "I've never seen that guy look so upset."

"What, Kakashi?" Kurenai tilted her gaze to the man. "He always looks like that, doesn't he?"

"Nah. He's been pretty relaxed since he quit ANBU. He used to be a real hard-ass teacher- I heard he was the one that trained the kid from Orochimaru's old experiments." The woman looked stunned at that.

"But to go so hard on the kids," she muttered, looking around uneasily. "I mean, I know their age is... But they're so _young_. Hinata still faints at the sight of Naruto, Kiba still picks fights over such silly things..." Gai shifted uneasily at that.

"Naruto was training with my team earlier... He's very skilled for his age." The green-clad jounin considered the stone. "He's been trained for some time in a curious kind of taijutsu, and is very adept at breaking... And some of his moves..." Asuma frowned back.

"What are you saying?" he asked carefully. Gai shook his head quietly.

"I just wonder if someone's been preparing him all this time for something like this."

* * *

Rae sighed to herself as she flipped through the pages of her book, flopped over her bed and using the moonlight to read. She found herself unable to concentrate on really enjoying the story, but it was more of an escape than a pleasure these days.

Still... It was nice to have a vacation. She closed her book and tossed it to the ground, rolling onto her back. It was nice to not always fuss over a little notebook and think about the things that could still go horribly wrong.

It was really just too bad that she couldn't stop knowing what would.

* * *

OOPS NO FUNNY. If you want funny, try imagining a cute little Sakura being chased by dogs or a grumpy little Sasuke flailing madly at an invisible opponent. You gotta know that team was laughing their asses off.

I did once mention that the pre-Chunin exams were going to get kind of nitty-gritty, didn't I? I _did_ once say that as much fun as I have with this story, I still try to incorporate things like the butterfly effect, _right_? (Actually, I probably didn't- you guys can check for me.)

… Somehow I just don't see Kakashi as the kind of guy to not take action, though. Let's face it, Rae can't do much- but Kakashi? I idolize him. Of _course_ he can do anything! -bitchplz-

… I'll try for something funny next chapter. Please don't hurt me for this one, though~

Peace out.


End file.
